Engineering Commons^™

Autonomous Strike Uavs For Counterterrorism Missions: Challenges And Preliminary Solutions, Meshari Aljohani, Ravi Mukkamala, Stephan Olariu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

UAVs are becoming a crucial tool in modern warfare, primarily due to their cost-effectiveness, risk reduction, and ability to perform a wider range of activities. The use of autonomous UAVs to conduct strike missions against highly valuable targets is the focus of this research. Due to developments in ledger technology, smart contracts, and machine learning, such activities formerly carried out by professionals or remotely flown UAVs are now feasible. Our study provides the first in-depth analysis of challenges and potential solutions for successful implementation of an autonomous UAV mission.

Robust Nonlinear Tracking Control For Unmanned Aircraft In The Presence Of Wake Vortex, Petr Kazarin, Vladimir Golubev, William Mackunis, Claudia Moreno

Publications

The flight trajectory of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be significantly affected by external disturbances such as turbulence, upstream wake vortices, or wind gusts. These effects present challenges for UAV flight safety. Hence, addressing these challenges is of critical importance for the integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS), especially in terminal zones. This work presents a robust nonlinear control method that has been designed to achieve roll/yaw regulation in the presence of unmodeled external disturbances and system nonlinearities. The data from NASA-conducted airport experimental measurements as well as high-fidelity Large Eddy Simulations of the …

Power-Over-Tether Uas Leveraged For Nearly-Indefinite Meteorological Data Acquisition, Daniel Rico, Carrick Detweiler, Francisco Muñoz-Arriola

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

Use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) in agriculture has risen in the past decade. These systems are key to modernizing agriculture. UASs collect and elucidate data previously difficult to obtain and used to help increase agricultural efficiency and production. Typical commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) UASs are limited by small payloads and short flight times. Such limits inhibit their ability to provide abundant data at multiple spatiotemporal scales. In this paper, we describe the design and construction of the tethered aircraft unmanned system (TAUS), which is a novel power-over-tether UAS leveraging the physical presence of the tether to launch multiple sensors along …

Aerodynamic And Aeroacoustic Performance Of Small Uav Propellers In Static Conditions, William Jordan, Robert W. Deters, Shreyas Narsipur

Publications

The proliferation of small multi-rotor UAVs in commercial, recreational, and surveillance spheres has garnered significant interest in the noise produced by these vehicles. The current research aims to study the relationship between the aerodynamic performance and acoustic characteristics of small-scale UAV propellers. Three commercially available propellers for the DJI Phantom 2/3 UAV were selected for preliminary development and validation of an aeroacoustic experimental test setup and associated data reduction methods. Propeller thrust, torque, and power measurements were recorded at static conditions. Upon successful validation of the test bench, acoustic measurements were taken at the propeller disk’s upstream and in-plane locations. …

Performance Testing Of Aero-Naut Camfolding Propellers, Or D. Dantsker, Robert W. Deters, Marco Caccamo, Michael S. Selig

Publications

The increase in popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been driven by their use in civilian, education, government, and military applications. However, limited on-board energy storage significantly limits flight time and ultimately usability. The propulsion system plays a critical part in the overall energy consumption of the UAV; therefore, it is necessary to determine the most optimal combination of possible propulsion system components for a given mission profile, i.e. propellers, motors, and electronic speed controllers (ESC). Hundreds of options are available for the different components with little performance specifications available for most of them. By examining a variety of …

Propulsion System Testing For A Long-Endurance Solar-Powered Unmanned Aircraft, D. Dantsker, Robert Deters, Marco Caccamo

Publications

The increase in popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been driven by their use in civilian, education, government, and military applications. However, limited on-board energy storage significantly limits flight time and ultimately usability. The propulsion system plays a critical part in the overall energy consumption of the UAV; therefore, it is necessary to determine the most optimal combination of possible propulsion system components for a given mission profile, i.e. propellers, motors, and electronic speed controllers (ESC). Hundreds of options are available for the different components with little performance specifications available for most of them. In order to determine the …

Experiments Of Propeller-Induced Flow Effects On A Low-Reynolds-Number Wing, Gavin K. Ananda, Robert Deters, Michael S. Selig

Publications

Novel findings are discussed in this paper that will be especially beneficial to designers and modelers of small-scale unmanned air vehicles and high-altitude long-endurance vehicles that both operate at low Reynolds numbers (Re = 50,000-300,000). Propeller-induced Oow effects in both tractor and pusher configurations on a recta ngular wing using the Wortmann FX 63-137 airfoil (a common low-Reynolds-number high-lift airfoil) are presented in this paper . Significant performance benefits can be found for a wing in the tractor configuration. Experiments, including trip tests and upper-surface oil Dow visualization, show and verify that the propeller slipstream induces early transition to turbulent …

Unmanned Aerial Systems: Research, Development, Education & Training At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Michael P. Hickey

Publications

With technological breakthroughs in miniaturized aircraft-related components, including but not limited to communications, computer systems and sensors, state-of-the-art unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have become a reality. This fast-growing industry is anticipating and responding to a myriad of societal applications that will provide new and more cost-effective solutions that previous technologies could not, or will replace activities that involved humans in flight with associated risks.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has a long history of aviation-related research and education, and is heavily engaged in UAS activities. This document provides a summary of these activities, and is divided into two parts. The first part …

Ten Years Of The Real World Design Challenge, Robert W. Deters, Brent Terwilliger, S.C. Kleinke, Ralph K. Coppola, Jeff Coppola

Publications

Preparing students to be successful in STEM careers is important to foster continued growth in the US and the world. The Real World Design Challenge is a high school design competition focused on the area of aviation. Students work in teams to solve a real world problem using professional tools. The 2018 challenge marks the tenth anniversary of this program. The first students to compete in this competition are now in the work force. This paper describes the background of RWDC, the different challenges that have been used throughout its ten years, the current precision agriculture challenges using UAS, and …

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav): Flight Performance, Fevens Louis Jean

Student Works

It is important that when measuring the sideslip angle and angles of attack during flight test performance of a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), to fully understand that the Angles of attack and sideslip are parameters that aid in determining the safety of the flight as they improve stability and control of the aircraft. The disadvantage of the measurement of these angles using this method is low accuracy of measurement due to friction to the potentiometers in connection with the vanes. To counter this, a new sensing method was developed to minimize friction and collect more accurate data. The method is …

2015-2016 Eraudb Aiaa Design/Build/Fly Technical Report, Trevor W. Perrott

Student Works

The economic potential of small unmanned aerial vehicles (SUAVs) has been well documented and reported. According to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), there is an associated economic impact from the growth of the UAV industry. The goal of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design/Build/Fly Competition Research Program (AIAA DBF CRP) is to investigate design and manufacturing methods for application to SUAVs within the scope of the AIAA DBF Competition.

Students were engaged in the application of aerospace engineering knowledge for the production of a dual-aircraft system. Through the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Computer …

How To Save The World: One Life (And Uav) At A Time!, Natalie A. Wright

STAR Program Research Presentations

The proliferation of Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) in commercial and public service aviation arenas has begun to gain the attention of many citizens. Popularized vehicles such as quadcopters have applications in aerial photography, small package delivery and hobbyist/consumer interests. Use of small-scale, fixed- and rotary-wing, remotely operated systems has been popularized as a result of such vehicles’ size and operational simplicity, which widens the range of application of this technology. Public service applications have the potential to advance emergency services management, which can substantially contribute to the public wellbeing. This research will examine the utility of multi-rotor systems in the …

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) Propulsion Research: Conceptual Studies Of “Ultra-Compact Shaft-Less Jet Engines” For Next Generation Uavs, Tyler Eiguren, Trevor Douglas, Tre Buchanan

Publications

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are becoming more commonly used in today’s society, ranging anywhere from military applications to entertainment for enthusiasts and hobbyists. The complexity of current generation UAV’s propulsive devices, based upon a scaled turbine engine and separate gas & electrically powered rotating fan blades, require regular maintenance for every 24 hours of flight. This added cost coupled with necessary intricate machinery deters UAV designers from such engines, leaving a void in current production. Our research team believes that by combining a simplified alternative compression & combustion process with an electrically driven fan, we can develop an energy efficient, reliable, …

A (Declassified) History Of Military Drones, Stephen Rayleigh

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones, are said to be the newest technology of contemporary warfare, but the military's use of drones spans the last 100 years. Hear the riveting story of the numerous secret UAV programs around the world, starting with the Sperry Aerial Torpedo Project in 1918 (consulted by Orville Wright), the German cruise missile program, American remote controlled bombers in WWII, the Firebee recon drone used in Vietnam, Israel's highly successful UAV program, and finally the coming of age of UAV's in Operation Desert Storm.

Flying Uav’S In Iraq, Stephen Rayleigh

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAV’s, are a growing reality and an important new weapon for today’s military. Hear what it was like to fly the RQ-7B “Shadow” UAV during Operation Iraqi Freedom from Stephen Rayleigh who spent a year in Iraq and has more than 1,000 hours experience flying them.

Unmanned Aircraft System Propulsion Systems Technology Survey, Christopher Griffis, Timothy Wilson, Jeffrey Schneider, Peter Pierpont

Publications

This technology survey is an investigation of various propulsion systems used in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Discussed are existing and near-future propulsion mechanisms of UAS, such as reciprocating piston engines, Wankel rotary engines, gas turbine engines, rocket-powered systems, electric motors, and battery-based systems. Also discussed are systems that use proton exchange membrane fuel cells, photovoltaics, ultracapacitors, and propellers. Each system is described in reference to a larger conceptual framework, with instances and profiles of existing UAS employing the system being described. Advantages and disadvantages of each type of propulsion system are identified along with associated technical issues and their respective …

Neural Network Control Of A Parallel Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System For A Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Frederick G. Harmon

Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.