CAREER: Test Rig and Sensor Suite for Micro-Air-Vehicles Moving in Near-Earth Environments

微型飞行器（MAVs）是一种鸟类大小的平台，设计用于在森林、建筑物、隧道和洞穴等近地环境中飞行，这些环境通常是GPS、照明和通信较差、飞行空间混乱的地方。阻碍MAVs实现自主的根本问题是缺乏飞行数据和传感器指标。没有这些数据，设计传感器套件仍然是临时的和偶然的。建议将基础分析、计算和实验研究结合起来，对MAVs传感器套件进行设计、验证和飞行测试。一种新型的基于实验室的测试平台旨在以可控和可重复的方式收集大范围阵风和照明水平下的数据和性能指标。该平台还可以作为一个工具，测试仿生飞虫的传感器设计和导航原则是否可以可靠地应用于MAVs。工业和政府实验室的合作支持了这一提议。独特的K-20教育组件补充了这一建议，并以首次室内飞行机器人比赛为高潮，以配合莱特兄弟百年纪念。

Micro-air-vehicles (MAVs) are bird-sized platforms designed to fly in near-Earth environments like forests, buildings, tunnels and caves where often GPS, lighting and communication are poor and the flight spaces are cluttered. The fundamental gap in the knowledge base that prevents MAVs from becoming autonomous is the lack of flight data and sensor metrics. Without such data, designing sensor suites remains ad hoc and hapchance. Proposed is work that combines fundamental analytical, computational and experimental research towards the design, validation and flight-testing of sensor suites for MAVs. A novel lab-based test rig is designed to collect data and performance metrics under a wide range of gust and lighting levels in a controlled and repeatable manner. The rig serves as a tool to also test whether sensor designs and navigation principles that biomimic flying insects can reliably be applied to MAVs. Industrial and government lab collaborations buttress this proposal. Unique K-20 educational components complement this proposal and are capstoned by the first-ever indoor flying robot contest to coincide with the Wright Brothers Centennial.