Dynamics and Control of UAVs in Unsteady Aerodynamics Conditions.

无人驾驶飞行器在机器人研究界受到了极大的关注。与此同时，无人机商业市场在北美已经并将继续经历高速增长，无人机的新应用迅速涌现。一种这样的应用是野火监视，一个小型的低成本空中平台可以提供关于火灾情况和进展的有价值的信息，因此可以作为地面人员的辅助工具。在这个项目中，我们探索使用自动滑翔机在野火上进行长时间飞行。滑翔机之所以被选为这一应用程序，是因为它们可以利用火灾上产生的丰富热能，使它们能够长时间保持在高空。研究的重点将是开发制导和控制算法，使车辆能够在具有挑战性的天气条件下成功运行，这些天气条件可能会在野火中存在。该项目是麦吉尔大学已经资助的团队项目的自然延伸，该项目专注于无人机在非定常空气动力条件下的建模和控制。来自瑞尔森大学的一名新成员加入了该团队，该团队在气动载荷建模、滑翔机的操作和飞行测试方面具有专业知识，扩大和加强了该团队研究自动滑翔机的能力。这项研究将涉及开发在非稳定空气动力条件下运行的滑翔机的高保真模型，开发制导和控制策略，使其能够在火灾中自主利用热能，并进行初步飞行测试，以部分验证开发的自主能力。Ryerson大学的一名博士生和McGill的一名硕士学生将通过NSERC-FRQNT补助金获得资金，以完成上述任务。该补编将为来自两个机构的研究小组提供一个很好的机会，就这一主题进行合作，并探讨两个小组之间的协同作用，分享设备和专门知识。该项目的结果将与小型自动滑翔机在野火长期监测和其他环境中的应用有关。

Unmanned aerial vehicles have been receiving a lot of interest in the robotics research community. In parallel, the UAV commercial market has and continues to undergo high growth in North America, with new applications of UAVs emerging rapidly. One such application is wild fire surveillance, where a small low-cost aerial platform can provide valuable information on the conditions and progression of the fire and, hence, serve as an assistive tool to personnel on the ground. In this project, we explore the use of an autonomous glider for long-duration flight over wild fires. Gliders were selected for this application because they can exploit the abundant thermals that occur over a fire to allow them to stay aloft for long periods. The research focus will be on the development of guidance and control algorithms to allow the vehicle operate successfully in the challenging weather conditions that are likely to exist over a wild fire. This project provides a natural extension of the already funded team project at McGill University, which focuses on modeling and control of UAVs subject to unsteady aerodynamic conditions. The addition of a new member to the team from Ryerson University with expertise on modeling of aerodynamic loads, operation and flight testing of gliders, expands and strengthens the team's capabilities for research on autonomous gliders. The research will involve developing a high-fidelity model of a glider operating in unsteady aerodynamic conditions, developing guidance and control strategies to allow it to autonomously exploit thermals over a fire, and conducting initial flight tests to partially validate the developed autonomous capabilities. One PhD student at Ryerson University and one Master's student at McGill will be funded through the NSERC-FRQNT supplement to work on the aforementioned tasks. The supplement will provide an excellent opportunity for the research groups from two institutions to collaborate on this topic and to explore synergies between the two groups, share equipment and expertise. The results of the project will be relevant to applications of small autonomous gliders for long-duration surveillance of wild fires and in other contexts.