Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Cyber-Human Systems, Space Technologies, And Threats, Randall K. Nichols, Candice M. Carter, Jerry V. Drew Ii, Max Farcot, John-Paul Hood, Mark J. Jackson, Peter D. Johnson, Siny Joseph, Saeed Kahn, Wayne D. Lonstein, Robert Mccreight, Trevor W. Muehlfelder, Hans C. Mumm, Carter Diebold, Juole J.C.H. Ryan, Suzanne M. Sincavage, William Solfer, John Toebes

NPP eBooks

CYBER-HUMAN SYSTEMS, SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, AND THREATS is our eighth textbook in a series covering the world of UASs / CUAS/ UUVs / SPACE. Other textbooks in our series are Space Systems Emerging Technologies and Operations; Drone Delivery of CBNRECy – DEW Weapons: Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD); Disruptive Technologies with applications in Airline, Marine, Defense Industries; Unmanned Vehicle Systems & Operations On Air, Sea, Land; Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technologies and Operations; Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Cyber Domain: Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets, 2nd edition; and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the Cyber …

Space Force Design Project, Emily Greene, Ashton Orosa, Julia Patek, Nathan Doty

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of our research project is to develop a lab testbed composed of a curved surface to represent a spacecraft hull, a mobile robot equipped with repair tools, and a robotic arm equipped with a laser 3D scanner. This project is part of a larger grant to the University of Akron from Space Force and Air Research Labs. The lab testbed developed in this project will be used to assist in creating and testing a software and algorithm to inspect and repair spacecraft while in orbit. The project will involve researching spacecraft hulls to create an accurate simulation bed, …

Motion Planning In Artificial And Natural Vector Fields, Bernardo Martinez Rocamora Junior

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation advances the field of autonomous vehicle motion planning in various challenging environments, ranging from flows and planetary atmospheres to cluttered real-world scenarios. By addressing the challenge of navigating environmental flows, this work introduces the Flow-Aware Fast Marching Tree algorithm (FlowFMT*). This algorithm optimizes motion planning for unmanned vehicles, such as UAVs and AUVs, navigating in tridimensional static flows. By considering reachability constraints caused by vehicle and flow dynamics, flow-aware neighborhood sets are found and used to reduce the number of calls to the cost function. The method computes feasible and optimal trajectories from start to goal in challenging …

Digital Twins In Advanced Manufacturing To Enhance Manufacturing Efficiency, Max Kirkpatrick

Theses and Dissertations

Digital Twins of manufacturing systems are an emerging tool for improvement, optimization, and monitoring of physical manufacturing systems. The idea of representing physical systems with digital depictions has been prevalent since the early days of Computer Aided Design (CAD), but recently the concept of a Digital Twin has been expanded to encapsulate more than just a digital model of a design. Instead, the Digital Twin offers a unique, comprehensive, and real-time toolset for analysis and improvement of physical systems. These tools can be used to improve system efficiency, perform “what-if” analyses, virtually commission manufacturing equipment, analyze system performance in real …

Characterizing And Predicting Human Visual Perception Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Gestures, Paul Fletcher

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being used in public domains and hazardous environments where effective communication strategies are critical. UAV gesture techniques have been shown to communicate meaning to human observers and may be ideal in contexts that require lightweight systems such as unmanned aerial flight, however, this work may be limited to an idealized range of viewer perspectives. As gesture is a visual communication technique it is necessary to consider how the perception of a robot gesture may suffer from obfuscation or self-occlusion from some viewpoints. This thesis presents the results of three online user-studies that examine participants’ ability …

Dynamic Maneuvers For Satellite On-Orbit Servicing Utilizing Novel Continuum Robotics: Development & Experimentation, Nathan Dalton

Masters Theses

Robotic on-orbit servicing is a developing technology that seeks to increase the longevity and repairability of faulty or aging resident space objects. In this research, the development of a flexible continuum manipulator for a small satellite system that performs low-complexity on-orbit servicing or debris removal is presented. Derivations of manipulator kinematics are described in detail, a non-linear control scheme has been developed, and the accuracy and servicing applications for the prototype are evaluated and discussed. The manipulator has been tested on an air-bearing dynamics simulator, and the results are extensively analyzed. System recommendations and future work suggestions are presented.

Developing Reactive Distributed Aerial Robotics Platforms For Real-Time Contaminant Mapping, Joshua Ashley

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

The focus of this research is to design a sensor data aggregation system and centralized sensor-driven trajectory planning algorithm for fixed-wing aircraft to optimally assist atmospheric simulators in mapping the local environment in real-time. The proposed application of this work is to be used in the event of a hazardous contaminant leak into the atmosphere as a fleet of sensing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could provide valuable information for evacuation measures. The data aggregation system was designed using a state-of-the-art networking protocol and radio with DigiMesh and a process/data management system in the ROS2 DDS. This system was tested to …

Trajectory Generation For A Multibody Robotic System: Modern Methods Based On Product Of Exponentials, Aryslan Malik

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This work presents several trajectory generation algorithms for multibody robotic systems based on the Product of Exponentials (PoE) formulation, also known as screw theory. A PoE formulation is first developed to model the kinematics and dynamics of a multibody robotic manipulator (Sawyer Robot) with 7 revolute joints and an end-effector.

In the first method, an Inverse Kinematics (IK) algorithm based on the Newton-Raphson iterative method is applied to generate constrained joint-space trajectories corresponding to straight-line and curvilinear motions of the end effector in Cartesian space with finite jerk. The second approach describes Constant Screw Axis (CSA) trajectories which are generated …

Planning Algorithms Under Uncertainty For A Team Of A Uav And A Ugv For Underground Exploration, Matteo De Petrillo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Robots’ autonomy has been studied for decades in different environments, but only recently, thanks to the advance in technology and interests, robots for underground exploration gained more attention. Due to the many challenges that any robot must face in such harsh environments, this remains an challenging and complex problem to solve.

As technology became cheaper and more accessible, the use of robots for underground ex- ploration increased. One of the main challenges is concerned with robot localization, which is not easily provided by any Global Navigation Services System (GNSS). Many developments have been achieved for indoor mobile ground robots, making …

Uncertainty Estimation For Stereo Visual Odometry, Derek W. Ross

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Over the past few decades, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been increasingly popular for use in locations that are lacking, or have unreliable global navigation satellite system (GNSS) availability. One of the more popular localization techniques for quadrotors is the use of visual odometry (VO) through monocular, RGB-D, or stereo cameras. With primary applications in the context of Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) and indoor navigation, VO is largely used in combination with other sensors through Bayesian filters, namely Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) or Particle Filter. This work investigates the accuracy of two standard covariance estimation techniques for a feature-based …

Active Localization For Robotic Systems: Algorithms And Cost Metrics, Jared Strader

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In the real world, a robotic system must operate in the presence of motion and sensing uncertainty. This is caused by the fact that the motion of a robotic system is stochastic due to disturbances from the environment, and the states are only partially observable due noise in the sensor measurements. As a result, the true state of a robotic system is unknown, and estimation techniques must be used to infer the states from the belief, which is the probability distribution over all possible states. Accordingly, a robotic system must be capable of reasoning about the quality of the belief …

Satellite Maintenance: An Opportunity To Minimize The Kessler Effect, Bettina M. Mrusek Dr.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Recently, there has been an emphasis on the growing problem of orbital debris. While the advantages of placing satellites into space are numerous, advances in satellite technology combined with the growth of the industry have resulted with a significant amount of debris in the orbits surrounding our planet. The harshness of the space environment has also contributed to the debris, as evidenced by the number of objects currently in orbit which are not operational. As the amount of debris grows, so too does the likelihood of collisions, ultimately culminating in the Kessler Effect. However, recent advances in propulsion, advanced navigation, …

Integrating Cobots In Engineering Technology Education, Ana M. Djuric, Vukica Jovanovic, Tatiana V. Goris, Otilia Popescu

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Collaborative robots or CoBots, unlike traditional robots, are safe and flexible enough to work harmoniously with humans. Exploiting the efficiency of automated operations and the flexibility of manual operations in one process can improve productivity and worker job satisfaction. CoBots technology has been experiencing strong growth in different areas such as ground transportation, food-processing industry, car manufacturing, and naval or aeronautical engineering. Current CoBots education and training opportunities are rare or non-existent in university environments. In response to this need, we developed several CoBots modules which will be integrated in the current robotics and mechatronics courses. In this paper we …

Characterization Of A Robotic Manipulator For Dynamic Wind Tunnel Applications, James C. Lancaster

Theses and Dissertations

The newly acquired 6-DOF Motion Test Apparatus (MTA) was installed to perform dynamic wind tunnel testing in the AFIT Low Speed Wind Tunnel. Several complex motions revealed that the overall performance of the test rig needed improvement especially during small motions. The motions exposed that further enhancements would need to be performed individually for each joint. This research effort focused on the improvement of the MTA wrist roll motor and controller using a pitch oscillation. The controller software was improved using position feedback because the MTA wrist roll motor and controller exhibited reduced signal bias and amplitude attenuation. The enhanced …

Adaptive Control For Autonomous Navigation Of Mobile Robots Considering Time Delay And Uncertainty, Stephen Kofi Armah

Dissertations

Autonomous control of mobile robots has attracted considerable attention of researchers in the areas of robotics and autonomous systems during the past decades. One of the goals in the field of mobile robotics is development of platforms that robustly operate in given, partially unknown, or unpredictable environments and offer desired services to humans. Autonomous mobile robots need to be equipped with effective, robust and/or adaptive, navigation control systems. In spite of enormous reported work on autonomous navigation control systems for mobile robots, achieving the goal above is still an open problem. Robustness and reliability of the controlled system can always …

Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, John Brophy, Fred Culick, Louis Friedman, Pedro Llanos, Et Al.

Publications

This report describes the results of a study sponsored by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) to investigate the feasibility of identifying, robotically capturing, and returning an entire Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) to the vicinity of the Earth by the middle of the next decade. The KISS study was performed by people from Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Space Center, Langley Research Center, the California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard University, the Naval Postgraduate School, University of California at Los Angeles, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of Southern …

Singularity Avoidance Strategies For Satellite Mounted Manipulators Using Attitude Control, Nathan A. Titus

Theses and Dissertations

Control concepts for satellite mounted manipulators (SMM) are examined. The primary focus is on base actuated concepts, which eliminate singularity problems associated with free floating SMMs. A new form of the equations of motion for an n-link SMM is developed using a quasi coordinate form of Lagrange's Equation. Alternative free floating SMM designs are presented which eliminate dynamic singularities, but still experience difficulties due to the unactuated base. A new generic SMM controller is developed as a framework for various control concepts with and without base actuation. Momentum constrained Jacobians are shown to produce better SMM tracking than fixed base …

Design And Construction Of The Aerobot Robotic Manipulator (Arm), William L. Cochran

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis designed, constructed, and tested a robotic arm for the Aerobot Aerial Robot. The main purpose of the ARM is to enable the Aerobot to retrieve objects for use in an annual robotics competition. Design of the ARM involved synthesizing the characteristics of simplicity, weight, strength, and size. The result was a three-degree-of-freedom manipulator that uses electric motors, cable linkages, and telescoping tubes to access a work space below the Aerobot. Forward and inverse kinematics were investigated to enable automation of the ARM. Data was collected from infrared sensors to validate the model. Manipulation of the ARM is presently …