Engineering Commons^™

Uav As A Service: Providing On-Demand Access And On-The-Fly Retasking Of Multi-Tenant Uavs Using Cloud Services, Justin Yapp

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

As commercial roles for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) become more well-defined and demand for the services provided by them increases, UAVs rely more on new cloud computing services and co-operative coordination to provide mission planning, control, tracking and data processing. We present UAV as a Service (UAVaaS) framework, which brings features commonly found in traditional cloud services, such as Infrastructure, Platform, and Software as a Service, to the domain of UAVs. Our work aims to conceptualize and design UAVaaS for commercial applications. Specifically, a cloud-provided orchestration framework that allows multi-tenant UAVs to easily serve multiple heterogenous clients at once and …

Design And Implementation Of A Controller For A Beaglebone Quadcopter, Peter Olejnik

Graduate Theses - Mechanical Engineering

Unmanned aerial vehicles are quickly becoming a significant and permanent feature in today's world of aviation. Amongst the various types of UAVs, a popular type is the quadcopter. Also referred to as a quadrotor, this rotor craft's defining feature is that it has four propellers. While its use is common in the hobbyist community, this aircraft's use within industry is blooming.

Presented are the efforts to design and implement a controller for a BeagleBone based quadcopter. As part of this effort, characteristics of the quadcopter were experimentally determined. These characteristics consist of physical properties of the quadcopter, such as the …

Development And Flight Test Of Moving-Mass Actuated Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Sampath Reddy Vengate

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Conventional airplane control is achieved by aerodynamic control surfaces by generating moments around all the three axes of the aircraft. Defections of the control surfaces have some disadvantages such as induced drag, increase in radar signature, and exposure to high temperature in high speed applications. As an alternative moment generation mechanism, prior research proposed internal mass-actuation, which is to generate gravitational moment by changing the center of gravity of the aircraft through motion of internal masses within the aircraft. Prior research investigated the feasibility and benefit of internal mass-actuation in airplane control based on simulation analysis. The main focus of …

Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast For Detect And Avoid On Small Unmanned Aircraft, Matthew Owen Duffield

Theses and Dissertations

Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are rapidly gaining popularity. As the excitement surrounding small UAS has grown, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has repeatedly stated that UAS must be capable of detecting and avoiding manned and unmanned aircraft. In developing detect-and-avoid (DAA) technology, one of the key challenges is identifying a suitable sensor. Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) has gained much attention in both the research and consumer sectors as a promising solution. While ADS-B has many positive characteristics, further analysis is necessary to determine if it is suitable as a DAA sensor in environments with high-density small UAS operations. To …

Path Following By A Quadrotor Using Virtual Target Pursuit Guidance, Abhishek Manjunath

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Missile guidance laws have been solely developed to follow and intercept a target thereby destroying or damaging it. In this research, the primary objective is to modify and adopt a missile guidance law to be used on a quadrotor to follow a virtual target. The target is termed 'virtual' as it only exists mathematically in the form of equations. The goal is to have the quadrotor successfully following the predefined path (described by the target) while maintaining a fixed distance from the virtual target. To ensure viability and assess performance, a detailed comparison with another path following law is made.

Flying By Fire: Making Controlled Burns Safer For Humans And Uavs, Rebecca Horzewski, Carrick Detweiler

UCARE: Research Products

A temperature sensing circuit board was developed that will allow Nimbus Lab's controlled burn starting UAV to react to the temperatures around it.

Examining American Attitudes On The Use Of Military Drones, Todd Brandon

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Recent polls have revealed that Americans of both the political left and right support the use of military drones. This statement stands true among groups who traditionally do not support the use of military force. I hypothesize that people of a more liberal persuasion will be more concerned with whether or not the drone program endangers innocent civilians, while those of a more conservative view will be more concerned with the legality of conducting military drone strikes. I analyze data obtained from the Pew Research Center to examine people's attitudes on military drone strikes via framing theory. My hypothesis has …

Not-So-Risky Business? Assessing The Risk Of Integrating Large Rpvs Into The Current Air Traffic System, Hans-Joachim K. Ruff-Stahl, Steven Esser, Dirk Farsch, Thomas Graner, Robert Klein, Christian Schneidt, Stefan Schoenborn

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

In spite of considerable efforts to commercialize large remotely piloted vehicles (RPV), an integration of these RPVs into the existing Air Transportation System (ATS) and Airspace Structure is pending. The purpose of this paper was to assess the risks of an exemplary integration of a Heron 1 type RPV into the existing European air space structure within the current regulatory framework and without the availability of sense and avoid technology. Six incident occurrence scenarios were investigated, based on a modified Fault Tree Analysis and Eurocontrol’s risk matrix. It was found that without the implementation of technological or procedural changes, an …

Enhancing Fire Fighter Situational Awareness With Remote Uav Thermal Imaging, Jarett Chaine, Nathan Ellingson, Herve Iradukunda

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Fighting highly dynamic and unpredictable structure fires can be very challenging and dangerous for firefighters. They need full situational awareness of the fire as it evolves. In these situations, it is difficult for firefighters to gain insight on whether they are winning or losing the battle against the fire. By gathering thermal images of a burning structure, our Thermal Imaging System will be able to provide real time data to help first responders mitigate risks associated with unpredictable fire dynamics.

The FAA is currently modifying and creating more regulations to address integrating UAVs with the existing aviation network. This makes …

Uav Wireless Relay, Paul Kirchoff, Lawrence Ng, David Vieth

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Often a scenario arises in which it is necessary to collection information from a hostile environment and the safest way to do this is the deployment of a small unmanned ground vehicle (UGV). In this situation the UGV will move around the environment while sending a live data stream back to the ground base. However, there can be limits on the maneuverability and range of the UGV making it difficult to complete this mission. To solve this problem unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are used to assist in both the deployment of the UGV as well as handling the connection between …

Implementation Of An Air Supply Unit Control Scheme For The Uc2av (Unmanned Circulation Control Aerial Vehicle), Cameron Rosen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The expanded prevalence of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in recent years has created many opportunities to research novel applications for their use, enabled by the reduced cost, mission flexibility, and reduced risk that small-scale unmanned platforms provide in comparison to larger aircraft. Despite the versatility of unmanned aviation, limitations on payload size and weight, fuel and power capacity, and takeoff and landing infrastructure can restrict UAV applications, and have created a need for lift augmenting technologies that can reduce the impact of these limitations. Circulation Control (CC) is an active flow technique that has been proven as a method for …

Thrust Sensing For Small Uavs, Christopher Scott Marchman

Masters Theses

"Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become prevalent in both military and civilian applications. UAVs have many size categories from large-scale aircraft to micro air vehicles. The performance, health, and efficiency for UAVs of smaller sizes can be difficult to assess and few associated instrumentation systems have been developed. Thrust measurements on the ground can characterize systems especially when combined with simultaneous motor power measurements. This thesis demonstrates the use of strain measurements to measure the thrust produced by motor/propeller combinations for such small UAVs. A full-bridge Wheatstone circuit and electrical resistance strain gauges were used in conjunction with constant-stress cantilever …

Dust Susceptibility At Mine Tailings Impoundments: Thermal Remote Sensing For Dust Susceptibility Characterization And Biological Soil Crusts For Dust Susceptibility Reduction, Bonnie Zwissler

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Mining operations produce massive volumes of mine tailings, which are deposited as slurry into permanent tailings impoundments. An important and heavily regulated environmental hazard associated with mine tailings impoundments is fugitive dust emissions. Wind erosion of mine tailings impoundments and the resulting dusting events, especially those caused by cold weather dusting, remain an on-going challenge for the mining industry. The overall goal of this research was to develop and evaluate effective, economical, and sustainable solutions to two major issues facing mine tailings impoundments with regards to dusting: (1) dust monitoring/detection and (2) dust reduction/prevention. Specifically, the research studied iron mine …

Project X - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Gabriel Diamond, Wesley Schaefermeyer, Samuel Vonniederhausern

Electrical and Computer Engineering

The overall goal of the project was to design controllers for a UAV that would maintain a constant altitude and bank angle. Shown below are the kinematic model and control loops that were used.

Wide-Scale Small Unmanned Aircraft System Access To The National Airspace System, John Robbins, Brent Terwilliger, David Ison, Dennis Vincenzi

Publications

Expected revisions of federal policies and regulations for the operation and certification of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) are anticipated to significantly increase the volume of traffic in the National Airspace System (NAS). By investigating critical needs of regulatory compliance and safety, as well as new advancements, it may be possible to identify strategies to address the most pressing concerns of sUAS integration. Findings and recommendations from this research are presented to highlight implications and possible solutions to urgent needs of UAS stakehold-ers, including industry, government, and academia.

Aircraft Detection And Tracking Using Uav-Mounted Vision System, Yan Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

For unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to operate safely in the national airspace where non-collaborating flying objects, such as general aviation (GA) aircraft without automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), exist, the UAVs' capability of “seeing" these objects is especially important. This “seeing", or sensing, can be implemented via various means, such as Radar or Lidar. Here we consider using cameras mounted on UAVs only, which has the advantage of light weight and low power. For the visual system to work well, it is required that the camera-based sensing capability should be at the level equal to or exceeding that of human pilots. …

A Compact Phased Array Radar For Uas Sense And Avoid, Jonathan Cullinan Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

As small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are introduced into the national airspace, measures must be introduced to ensure that they do not interfere with manned aviation and other UAS. Radar provides an attractive solution because of its inherent range accuracy and because it works in diverse weather and lighting conditions. Traditional radar systems, however, are large and high power and do not meet the size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints imposed by UAS, and fully integrated automotive solution do not provide the necessary range. This thesis proposes a compact radar system that meets both the SWaP and range requirements for …

Examining Unmanned Aerial System Threats & Defenses: A Conceptual Analysis, Ryan J. Wallace, Jon M. Loffi

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the already complex global aviation system presents new and unique hazards. While many studies have addressed the potential safety concerns of UAS integration, little research has been dedicated to the potential security implications. This study sought to identify potential uses and adaptations of civil UAS systems as weapons of terrorism or crime and potential UAS defenses. Researchers examined 68 academic studies, unclassified government reports, and news articles using Conceptual Analysis to systematically capture and categorize various threats. Using the collected data, researchers developed a UAS threat model for categorically evaluating potential threats. …

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 …

Skyport: Payload: Medical Cooler For The Skyport Uav, Madison Gee, Hector Lopez, Victor Magaña

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

Access to basic healthcare is a major persisting problem around the globe, especially in rural parts of the world. One of the many facets of this problem is access to vaccine treatment. The transportation and storage of vaccines at the proper temperature is an issue that is still being solved and improved upon today. One of the common solutions to this problem is the use of passive coolers such as ice packs and other refrigerants. The potential issue with passive cooling is that the temperature cannot be actively controlled. This is evident, as many vaccines are wasted due to incorrect …

Uav Avoidance System, Zachary Stargensky

Electrical Engineering

This is an ongoing design project being funded by Northrop Grumman in which Cal Poly SLO is working in collaboration with Cal Poly Pomona to complete a working design at the end of each academic school year. The project consists of two UAVs that can navigate around a given area without running into each other or other obstacles. There are sensors to be mounted on the vehicles that can detect objects within a given distance and a microcontroller is used to control how the vehicle responds to an object being detected. The avoidance code has been written for previous years’ …

Electric Commuter Multicopter, Marley Hunter Miller, Blake Sperry, Ike Sheppard, Olliver Fredrick Kunz, Sam Juday, Alex O'Hearn, Kyle Seth Kruse, Arthur Norwood, Jarrell Washington

Mechanical Engineering

This document describes the design, analysis, and overall goals of the Electric Commuter Multicopter (ECM) Senior Project. It was presented by Bob Addis and Bill Burner to the senior mechanical engineering class of 2015 at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. The progress and development of the project are described in detail and to an extent that an individual or group with similar aspirations can construct their own multicopter or expand upon this one. The goal of this project is to create an Ultralight, as defined by FAA Part 103, commuter multicopter vehicle capable of transporting an individual to and from …

Design Of Synthetic Jet Actuator For Flight Control Of Small Uav, Priyanka Pagadala

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The main idea of this project is to develop a prototype SJA - Synthetic Jet Actuator to embed into a small UAV with modified Glauert wing cross-section for Active Flow Control. Apart from lift enhancement, drag reduction, or separation control, etc; LCO suppression might be possible by modifying the boundary layer through the use of these actuators. For initial investigation, a wing section with span of 12.4 cm and chord of 14 cm was fabricated and tests were conducted in the subsonic wind tunnel at the free stream velocities of 5 and 10 m / s. From these experiments, lift …

A Collaborative Conceptual Aircraft Design Environment For The Design Of Small-Scale Uavs In A Multi-University Setting, Joseph Samuel Becar

Theses and Dissertations

In today's competitive global market, there is an ever-increasing demand for highly skilled engineers equipped to perform in teams dispersed over several time-zones by geography. Aerospace Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering (AerosPACE) is a senior design capstone program co-developed by academia and industry to help students develop the necessary skills to excel in the aerospace industry by challenging them to design, build, and fly an unique unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Students with little to no experience designing UAVs are put together in teams with their peers from geographically dispersed universities. This presents a significant challenge for the students …

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, …

Assessment Of Surface Soil Moisture Using High-Resolution Multi-Spectral Imagery And Artificial Neural Networks, Leila Hassan-Esfahani, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Austin M. Jensen, Mac Mckee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Many crop production management decisions can be informed using data from high-resolution aerial images that provide information about crop health as influenced by soil fertility and moisture. Surface soil moisture is a key component of soil water balance, which addresses water and energy exchanges at the surface/atmosphere interface; however, high-resolution remotely sensed data is rarely used to acquire soil moisture values. In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) model was developed to quantify the effectiveness of using spectral images to estimate surface soil moisture. The model produces acceptable estimations of surface soil moisture (root mean square error (RMSE) = …

Design Methods For Remotely Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, William Beaman Howe

Master's Theses

A method for sizing remotely powered unmanned aerial vehicles is presented to augment the conventional design process. This method allows for unconventionally powered aircraft to become options in trade studies during the initial design phase. A design matrix is created that shows where, and if, a remotely powered vehicle fits within the design space. For given range and power requirements, the design matrix uses historical data to determine whether an internal combustion or electrical system would be most appropriate. Trends in the historical data show that the break in the design space between the two systems is around 30 miles …

Intelligent Control Of Miniature Holonomic Vertical Take-Off And Landing Robot, Mohammad A. Jaradata, Mohamed Al-Fandia, Omar Alkhatiba, Yousef Sardahi

All Engineering Faculty Research

This paper discusses the development of a fuzzy based controller for miniaturized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).This controller is designed to control the center-of-gravity (CoG) in a new configuration of coaxial miniaturized flying robot (MFR). The idea is to shift the CoG by controlling two pendulums located in perpendicular directions; each pendulum ends with a small mass. A key feature of this work is that the control algorithm represents the original nonlinear function that describes the dynamics of the proposed system. The controller model incorporates two cascaded subsystems: PD and PI fuzzy logic controllers. These two controllers regulate the attitude and …

Design Of An All-In-One Embedded Flight Control System, Joel D. Elmore

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes an all-in-one flight control system (FCS) that was designed for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The project focuses on the embedded hardware aspect of a stand-alone system with low-cost and reliability in mind.

Automatic Pmg Controller For Small Applications, William Scott Adkins

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is used to describe the proof of concept and design for a much needed answer to a major flight time limitation in smaller application drones. All small electric drones and small electric vehicles have the same major problem, short run-times. The average time a multi-rotor helicopter runs is for approximately 20 minutes. The concept idea of the combination of a permanent magnet generator (PMG) and a controller can extend this flight time. The basic idea is to add the similar function an automobile has, which is the alternator. This thesis will include, but not limited to the following …