An integrated light-weight acoustic obstacle detection and positioning system for nano air vehicles

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have progressed rapidly over recent years, enabled by technology convergence and rapid advances in battery and control electronics driven by the smart phone market. There is growing demand for even smaller platforms, Nano UAVs (NAVs) that are very light and can be carried by an individual. MapleBird (MB) is a company developing a very innovative and light-weight NAV based on a patented engine design. This project will be a collaborative one between MB and the University of Manchester (UoM). It will research and design an acoustic proximity detection system and integrate a beaconing system that has been developed previously by UoM. This will allow the MB NAV to autonomously avoid objects and reduce the requirements on the operator to facilitate higher order mission control tasks. The beacon based positioning system will facilitate accurate simultaneous control of more than one NAV. This system will leverage the hardware already carried by the MB NAV to deliver the desired capability with the addition of minimal extra weight, crucial at this scale.