Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Aerospace Engineering Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2019

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 391 - 420 of 458

Full-Text Articles in Aerospace Engineering

Comparison Of Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Uas) For Agriculture Monitoring, Joseph Cerreta, Kristine M. Kiernan Jan 2019

Comparison Of Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Uas) For Agriculture Monitoring, Joseph Cerreta, Kristine M. Kiernan

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Florida citrus growers need inexpensive methods to observe citrus plants to detect disease and stress consistently. Health vegetation indices, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) collected from Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), can be used to identify variation in plant health. Simple-to-operate UAS may enable growers to determine within-field variation more frequently than with inspections from scouts, providing more frequent knowledge about the crop condition. This research compared two low-cost fixed-wing UAS, a $5,000 Parrot Disco Pro Ag and a $16,690 senseFly eBee, each equipped with a Parrot Sequoia multispectral camera, to determine if there were differences in the …


In-Flight Wingtip Folding: Inspiration From The Xb-70 Valkyrie, Gaétan X. Dussart, Mudassir Lone, Ciaran O'Rourke, Thomas Wilson Jan 2019

In-Flight Wingtip Folding: Inspiration From The Xb-70 Valkyrie, Gaétan X. Dussart, Mudassir Lone, Ciaran O'Rourke, Thomas Wilson

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Wingip folding can be used to extend aircraft wingspan, allowing designers to take advantage of reduced induced drag whilst respecting ground operational limitations. Such devices can also be used in-flight for a variety of other benefits including load alleviation and flight control. The majority of in-flight folding research takes inspiration in past developments made on the XB-70 Valkyrie, which used the folding devices for stability and lift performance benefits. In this paper, the authors investigate the capabilities of the folding wingtip system and potential scaling to large civil aircraft. Manufacturing details are used to size the actuators whilst the aerodynamic …


Effects Of A Hand Luggage Guiding System On Airplane Boarding Time And Passenger Experience, Mirte Vendel, Sagar Dangal, Jessica Coppens, Suzanne Hiemstra-Van Mastrigt, Peter Vink Jan 2019

Effects Of A Hand Luggage Guiding System On Airplane Boarding Time And Passenger Experience, Mirte Vendel, Sagar Dangal, Jessica Coppens, Suzanne Hiemstra-Van Mastrigt, Peter Vink

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This research investigates whether a hand luggage guiding system in overhead bins decreases boarding time and improves boarding experience during aircraft boarding process. A guiding system was developed which allocates and displays the passengers luggage space in the overhead bin. The allocated space is guided by a light strip in front of the display that blinks when a passenger comes close to their allocated luggage space. This system was tested in a Boeing 737 test fuselage. Compared to regular boarding, a boarding time reduction of 16 to 23 seconds was estimated using the hand luggage guiding system in groups of …


Global Aviation System: Towards Sustainable Development, Marina P. Bonser Dr. Jan 2019

Global Aviation System: Towards Sustainable Development, Marina P. Bonser Dr.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Aviation around the world has integrated into a global system. As the integration process continues, more aspects and levels of it need to be lead towards the sustainable development of the whole system via advancing strategic management, global communication proficiency, and technological expertise. It becomes essential to enrich global language (English) proficiency with cross-cultural communication competence not only for communication in the air but also for airport security, passenger and cargo services, aircraft and equipage engineering, building, and maintenance. Nowadays lower levels of management need more advanced strategic thinking and problem solving skills, and higher levels of management need global …


Determination Of Parameters During Quasi-Steady Stall Maneuver Using Genetic Algorithm, Ambuj Srivastava, Ajit Kumar, Ajoy Kanti Ghosh Jan 2019

Determination Of Parameters During Quasi-Steady Stall Maneuver Using Genetic Algorithm, Ambuj Srivastava, Ajit Kumar, Ajoy Kanti Ghosh

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The current work offers the determination of longitudinal aerodynamic derivatives during flight manoeuver at angles of attack near the stall. The flight manoeuver near stall is highly non-linear in nature due to separated flow at such elevated angles of attack. Kirchoff’s model for Quasi-Steady Stall Modelling (QSSM) is employed to represent the non-linear nature of aerodynamics during flight manoeuver at elevated angles of attack close to the stall. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimized output error method is utilized for estimating the parameters specific to stall characteristics and longitudinal aerodynamics of the ATTAS aircraft. The comparative evaluation of the parameter estimates …


Determination Of Aerodynamic Forces And Control Requirement During Ground Effect, Ambuj Srivastava Jan 2019

Determination Of Aerodynamic Forces And Control Requirement During Ground Effect, Ambuj Srivastava

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The current work delivers the effect of ground proximity on longitudinal aerodynamic forces and the elevator deflection required for trimming the aircraft. The academic understanding states that the with the increasing proximity to the ground,downwash progressively reduces.The methodology adopts the approximation of linear decrement for the estimation of the residual downwash at any height above ground within the unit wingspan. The proposed method utilizes non-dimensional height above ground for the approximation of effective downwash angle in the presence of ground. The approximately predicted effective downwash angle is subsequently utilized to estimate the effect of ground proximity on longitudinal forces, trim …


Big Five Technologies In Aeronautical Engineering Education: Scoping Review, Ruth Martinez-Lopez Jan 2019

Big Five Technologies In Aeronautical Engineering Education: Scoping Review, Ruth Martinez-Lopez

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The constant demands that technology creates in aerospace engineering also influence education. The identification of the technologies with practical application in aerospace engineering is of current interest to decision makers in both universities and industry. A social network approach enhances this scoping review of the research literature to identify the main topics using the Big Five technologies in aerospace engineering education. The conceptual structure of the dataset (n=447) was analyzed from different approaches: at macro-level, a comparative of the digital technology identified by cluster analysis with the number of co-words established in 3 and 8 and, a keyword central structure …


A Thrust Equation Treats Propellers And Rotors As Aerodynamic Cycles And Calculates Their Thrust Without Resorting To The Blade Element Method, Phillip -. Burgers Jan 2019

A Thrust Equation Treats Propellers And Rotors As Aerodynamic Cycles And Calculates Their Thrust Without Resorting To The Blade Element Method, Phillip -. Burgers

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The lift generated by a translating wing of known translational speed, lift coefficient and area is calculated by a simple equation. A propeller or rotor generating thrust share the same aerodynamic principles but their different kinematics cause the calculation of their thrust to be laborious. This paper derives a thrust equation from an algebraic expansion of the Prandtl’s dynamic pressure term qby adding the rotational kinetic energy of a propeller or rotor to the existing translational kinetic energy term. This thrust equation can be applied directly to propellers and rotors and assumes these to operate as cycles with …


Optimization And Analysis Of An Elite Electric Propulsion System, Mehakveer Singh, Kapil Yadav, Satnam Singh, Vikas Chumber, Harikrishna Chavhan Jan 2019

Optimization And Analysis Of An Elite Electric Propulsion System, Mehakveer Singh, Kapil Yadav, Satnam Singh, Vikas Chumber, Harikrishna Chavhan

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Abstract- Electric propulsion has a promising system to create new possibilities in this technological era as well as control the harmful gaseous emission. This paper put a vision on several parameters of electric propulsion. The engine’s performance is comparable to the current propulsion devices and provides a lightweight solution to the robust technologies’ dependent on chemical energy sources. There are a plethora of factors which is enhanced by electric propulsion such as, overall efficiency, capabilities, and robustness of future air vehicles as well as mainly overcome from exhaust hazards. Electric propulsion systems have the potential of utilizing the electrically-driven propulsion …


Effect Of Chemical Reactions On The Fluidic Thrust Vectoring Of An Axisymmetric Nozzle, Rachid Chouicha, Mohamed Sellam, Said Bergheul Jan 2019

Effect Of Chemical Reactions On The Fluidic Thrust Vectoring Of An Axisymmetric Nozzle, Rachid Chouicha, Mohamed Sellam, Said Bergheul

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Abstract:

During the last years, several thrust control systems of aerospace rocket engines have been developed. The fluidic thrust vectoring is one of them; it is simple in design and offers a substantial gain in weight and in performance. Most of studies related to this device were carried out with cold gas. It’s quite legitimate to expect that the thermophysical properties of the gases may affect considerably the flow behavior. Besides, the effects of reacting gases at high temperatures, under their effects all flow parameters like to vary.

This study aims to develop a new methodology that allows studying and …


Computation Of Eclipse Time For Low-Earth Orbiting Small Satellites, Sumanth R M Jan 2019

Computation Of Eclipse Time For Low-Earth Orbiting Small Satellites, Sumanth R M

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This paper addresses a method for computing eclipse and daylight time for satellites in LEO. Continuous health-monitoring of the satellite is required for the success the mission. For this, the satellites are primarily powered by solar energy but during the eclipse time, the satellite’s functioning is affected as it cannot generate power during this period and also, its temperature drops rapidly. To tackle these issues, computing eclipse time for satellites becomes essential so as to plan for sizing its secondary power source for continuous functioning. In this work, eclipse time is being computed and it is shown that eclipse time …


Comparison Of Flow Field In The Proximity Of A Single Planar & Wrap-Around Fin, Nayhel Sharma, Palak Saini, Hrishabh Chaudhary, Gurteg Nagi, Rakesh Kumar Dr. Jan 2019

Comparison Of Flow Field In The Proximity Of A Single Planar & Wrap-Around Fin, Nayhel Sharma, Palak Saini, Hrishabh Chaudhary, Gurteg Nagi, Rakesh Kumar Dr.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Abstract

This paper analyses the results of the computational analysis between a single planar and a wrap-around fin mounted on a semi-cylindrical body. A free-stream Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was simulated for both cases in the Mach 0.4-3.0M range at 0°Angle of attack, in which, the behavior of flow around the fin was investigated using a turbulence model of higher order discretization. The post-processing shows all the possible views of the flow dynamics around the fins, as well as the missile body. The aerodynamic drag and the rolling moment characteristics of the planar and the wrap-around fin have been …


Aerodynamic Design And Exploration Of A Blended Wing Body Aircraft At Subsonic Speed, Sam Dakka Dr, Oliver Johnson Jan 2019

Aerodynamic Design And Exploration Of A Blended Wing Body Aircraft At Subsonic Speed, Sam Dakka Dr, Oliver Johnson

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Blended Wing Body (BWB) is a novel aircraft concept which provides many different aerodynamic benefits over conventional aircrafts design. This research investigated the BWB design, L/D characteristics, surface pressure distribution and span-wise lift distribution of a BWB aircraft at low to medium subsonic speeds. A BWB model was designed, manufactured and tested in a subsonic wind tunnel to validate the CFD simulation. The results gained from the investigation proved that BWB has a L/D improvement of 9.4% than conventional aircrafts and 21% increase at medium subsonic speeds (Mach 0.6) compared to lower subsonic speeds of 25 m/sec. It was found …


Design And Realization Of An Unmanned Aerial Rotorcraft Vehicle Using Pressurized Inflatable Structure, Nirmal Sadasivan Jan 2019

Design And Realization Of An Unmanned Aerial Rotorcraft Vehicle Using Pressurized Inflatable Structure, Nirmal Sadasivan

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Unmanned aerial rotorcraft vehicles have many military, commercial and civil applications. There is a necessity to advance the performance on several ranges of rotorcraft for using these vehicles successfully in the expanded future roles. A lower flight time, noise disturbance and safety issues remain the key obstacles in increasing the efficiency of the rotorcraft for various applications. This work presents the design and realization of a rotorcraft using pressurized inflatable structure filled with lighter than air gas such as helium or hydrogen to provide lift assistance for the vehicle. Two iterative design procedures were developed for designing the vehicle. One …


A Comparative Aerodynamic Study Of Nonplanar Wings, Mondher Yahyaoui Jan 2019

A Comparative Aerodynamic Study Of Nonplanar Wings, Mondher Yahyaoui

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

In this work four nonplanar wing configurations were studied using the vortex-lattice method: the wing-winglet, the C-wing, the biplane, and the box wing. It has been shown that linear twist, which is more practical in aeronautical construction, is more than adequate to achieve the higher values of span efficiency factor obtained by a completely optimized twist distribution along the span camber, the latter being in general highly varying and thus not very practical. It has also been shown that moderate sweep can slightly increase the span efficiency factor and further reduce vortex drag. The increase is more important for the …


Double Stud Cargo Fitting Research, Alternative Cargo Clip Design And Analysis, Cemal İrfan Çalişkan, Ebubekir Koç Dr, Hamaid Mahmood Khan Dr, Mustafa Enes Bulduk Jan 2019

Double Stud Cargo Fitting Research, Alternative Cargo Clip Design And Analysis, Cemal İrfan Çalişkan, Ebubekir Koç Dr, Hamaid Mahmood Khan Dr, Mustafa Enes Bulduk

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

It can be said that today's civil aviation basics began to be laid in the 1950s. This date is also important as the period in which the rules are being written and at the same time, some system solutions are produced by testing the methods of cargo loading. The cargo clip used in these cargo loading systems will be the subject of our article. In this context, the development process of the clip, which started in 1953 until today, will be examined in the light of the patent applications of the period; Afterwards, alternative clip-on work to the current cargo …


Design Guidelines For Supersonic Aircrafts In Civil Aviation, Tridib Banerjee Mr. Jan 2019

Design Guidelines For Supersonic Aircrafts In Civil Aviation, Tridib Banerjee Mr.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

There exists no publication currently available to the scholars that address in detail, every aspect of designing a modern supersonic aircraft for civil aviation. This paper aims to resolve that issue. It reviews all the existing work that has been done on the topic so far and builds upon that. It incorporates multiple disciplines and takes into account the closely inter-coupled effects of each component on one-another. It also analyses in detail the various environmental and modern regulatory challenges like sonic boom and means to overcome them. It further addresses the challenges like logistics, cabin crew radiation exposure, and cost …


Simulations On Optimization Of Liquid Spray Burners & Operating Parameters, Pallavi Gajjar, Vinayak Malhotra Jan 2019

Simulations On Optimization Of Liquid Spray Burners & Operating Parameters, Pallavi Gajjar, Vinayak Malhotra

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Spray burners form an essential part of any liquid propulsion system as they are responsible for injecting, atomizing, mixing and combusting the liquid fuel. Spray combustion used in aerospace applications like the liquid rocket engines, gas turbines or any other controlled environment for that matter places a huge emphasis on safe and effective operations. These applications make use of relatively small amounts of propellant volumes to generate enormous amounts of energy through combustion for producing thrust. For such cases involving enormous energy interactions, combustion comes with its own set of challenges. The predominant challenge among them all is that of …


Design And Simulation Of Regional Navigation Constellation With Optimized Mean Dop Based On Hybrid Geo And Igso Satellites, Firooz Keyvani, Seyed Hosein Torabi Jan 2019

Design And Simulation Of Regional Navigation Constellation With Optimized Mean Dop Based On Hybrid Geo And Igso Satellites, Firooz Keyvani, Seyed Hosein Torabi

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

In this article, achieving an optimal layout of satellite constellation has been investigated with the aim of navigation (positioning) and with the least amount of error in a region coverage. In navigation, a parameter defined as DOP specifies influences of the geometry of satellite placement in space on position error. Less DOP means more precise navigation, and an attempt has been made in this study to minimize it. In the optimization phase, using genetic algorithm, the number of moments in which coverage is less than four reached zero and then the DOP parameter was minimized. Subsequently, the issue was studied …


A New Method For The Prediction Of The Downwash Angle Gradient, Mondher Yahyaoui Dr. Jan 2019

A New Method For The Prediction Of The Downwash Angle Gradient, Mondher Yahyaoui Dr.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

A new method for the prediction of the downwash angle gradient due to aircraft wings across the span of an aft horizontal tail in the incompressible regime is presented. The approach is quite general and accounts for all practical wing geometric parameters except for wing twist where it is shown that this parameter has very little effect on the downwash angle gradient. The method consists of an empirical law which requires the prior knowledge of three constants. These have been computed either based on experimental data when available or using numerical data obtained using the vortex-lattice method. These constants are …


Dual Graphene Patch Antenna For Ka Band Satellite Applications, Mohammed Amin Rabah, Mohammed Bekhti Jan 2019

Dual Graphene Patch Antenna For Ka Band Satellite Applications, Mohammed Amin Rabah, Mohammed Bekhti

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Currently; grapheme offers a new opportunity to use in space technology and this is due to its amazing properties like conductivity, strength, flexibility and transparency which allows us to exploit new generation of ultra-fast nanoscale components; Since future wireless communication techniques are geared towards the use of the high frequency spectrum and many recent research prove this trend. This letter presents a proposal for design of a dual graphene-based antenna to use in new communication techniques in Ka band, where the proposed antenna can work for uplink and dowlink frequencies at same time since it has return loss less then …


Low Level Turbulence Detection For Airports, Anthony O' Connor, Derek Kearney Jan 2019

Low Level Turbulence Detection For Airports, Anthony O' Connor, Derek Kearney

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Abstract—— Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases. Despite many advances in on-board and ground based warning systems. Wind shear remains a formidable force that coupled with a microburst can overpower any aircraft. Aviation reports have concluded that pilots need to have improved information in relation to tailwinds, wind shear and wind variations on approach and during the landing phases. Low level wind shear continues to cause disruption, delays and contribute to aircraft crashes. As recently as 2016, two Boeing aircraft crashed while attempting a Go-around …


3d Textile Preforms And Composites For Aircraft Strcutures: A Review, Abbasali Saboktakin Jan 2019

3d Textile Preforms And Composites For Aircraft Strcutures: A Review, Abbasali Saboktakin

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Over the last decades, the development of 3D textile composites has been driven the structures developed to overcome disadvantages of 2D laminates such as the needs of reducing fabrication cost, increasing through-thickness mechanical properties, and improving impact damage tolerance. 3D woven, stitched, knitted and braided preforms have been used as composites reinforcement for these types of composites. In this paper, advantages and disadvantages of each of them have been comprehensively discussed. The fabric architects and their specification in particular stitched preforms and their deformation mode for aerospace applications have been reviewed. Exact insight into various types of damage in textile …


Effects Of Uncertainty Refinement On Satellite Collision Probability, Bruce Thomas Morrison Jan 2019

Effects Of Uncertainty Refinement On Satellite Collision Probability, Bruce Thomas Morrison

Masters Theses

"Due to the drastic increase in orbital debris about the Earth, the likelihood for new and current mission satellites to collide with other objects grows. When a mission satellite is placed in a highly populated orbit in the vicinity of other satellites or debris, it is necessary to consider the probability of collision to assess any possible conjunctions. The computation of the collision probability is heavily dependent on the relative position and velocity of the objects during conjunction, as well as the combined covariance. There are two main types of analytic collision probability computations; the first assumes that the objects …


Program Management For Concurrent University Satellite Programs, Including Propellant Feed System Design Elements, Shannah Withrow-Maser Jan 2019

Program Management For Concurrent University Satellite Programs, Including Propellant Feed System Design Elements, Shannah Withrow-Maser

Masters Theses

"Propulsion options for CubeSats are limited but are necessary for the CubeSat industry to continue future growth. Challenges to CubeSat propulsion include volume/mass constraints, availability of sufficiently small and certified hardware, secondary payload status, and power requirements. A multi-mode (chemical and electric) thruster was developed by at the Missouri University of Science and Technology to enable CubeSat propulsion missions. Two satellite buses, a 3U and 6U, are under development to demonstrate the multi-mode thruster's capabilities. Two key challenges related to these missions are the development of the feed system to support the thruster and management of the two bus programs' …


Propagation Of Uncertainty Through Coning, Sculling, And Scrolling Corrections For Inertial Navigation, James Daniel Alan Brouk Jan 2019

Propagation Of Uncertainty Through Coning, Sculling, And Scrolling Corrections For Inertial Navigation, James Daniel Alan Brouk

Masters Theses

"This thesis investigates the propagation of estimation errors through generalized coning, sculling, and scrolling algorithms used in modern day inertial navigation systems, in order to accurately quantify the uncertainty in the estimation of position, velocity, and attitude. The corrections for coning, sculling, and scrolling algorithms have an often unaccounted for effect on documented and empirically derived error statistics for measurements used to predict the uncertainty in a vehicle's position, velocity, and attitude estimates. Through the development of an error analysis for these generalized algorithms, mappings of the measurement and estimation errors through the correction termare generated. Using the developed mappings, …


Small Satellite Earth-To-Moon Direct Transfer Trajectories Using The Cr3bp, Garrett Levi Mcmillan Jan 2019

Small Satellite Earth-To-Moon Direct Transfer Trajectories Using The Cr3bp, Garrett Levi Mcmillan

Masters Theses

"The CubeSat/small satellite field is one of the fastest growing means of space exploration, with applications continuing to expand for component development, communication, and scientific research. This thesis study focuses on establishing suitable small satellite Earth-to-Moon direct-transfer trajectories, providing a baseline understanding of their propulsive demands, determining currently available off-the-shelf propulsive technology capable of meeting these demands, as well as demonstrating the effectiveness of the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem (CR3BP) for preliminary mission design. Using the CR3BP and derived requirements from NASA's Cube Quest Challenge, five different trajectory scenarios were analyzed for their propulsive requirements. Results indicate that the …


Laser Machining Countersinks In Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer, Leon James Neely Hill Jan 2019

Laser Machining Countersinks In Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer, Leon James Neely Hill

Masters Theses

“Laser machining countersinks with a frequency doubled Q-switched diode pumped Nd:YAG laser is demonstrated. Tests were conducted in 0.100" thick IM7 prepreg CFRP with [0,90]3S orientation. The HAZ is minimized to avoid stress concentrations in the epoxy matrix. A chamber and filtration system was designed and built to contain the byproducts produced in the machining process. The variables investigated are the number of repetitions in the offset path, the plunge rate, and the line energy. The research was performed over one baseline study, one parameter space exercise, two full factorial experiments, and one repeatability study. Assessment was done under an …


Algorithms And Optimal Control For Spacecraft Magnetic Attitude Maneuvers, Mohammed Desouky Jan 2019

Algorithms And Optimal Control For Spacecraft Magnetic Attitude Maneuvers, Mohammed Desouky

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study focused on providing applicable control solutions for spacecraft magnetic attitude control system. Basically, two main lines are pursued; first, developing detumbling control laws and second, an improvement in the three-axis attitude control schemes by extending magnetic rods activation time.

Spacecraft, after separation from the launching mechanism, experiences a tumbling phase due to an undesired angular momentum. In this study, we present a new efficient variant of the B-dot detumbling law by introducing a substitute of the spacecraft angular velocity, based on the ambient magnetic field data. This B-dot law preserves the orthogonality, among the applied torque, dipole moment …


Gnss/Lidar-Based Navigation Of An Aerial Robot In Sparse Forests, Antonio C. Chiella, Henrique N. Machado, Bruno O.S. Teixeira, Guilherme A.S. Pereira Jan 2019

Gnss/Lidar-Based Navigation Of An Aerial Robot In Sparse Forests, Antonio C. Chiella, Henrique N. Machado, Bruno O.S. Teixeira, Guilherme A.S. Pereira

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Autonomous navigation of unmanned vehicles in forests is a challenging task. In such environments, due to the canopies of the trees, information from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) can be degraded or even unavailable. Also, because of the large number of obstacles, a previous detailed map of the environment is not practical. In this paper, we solve the complete navigation problem of an aerial robot in a sparse forest, where there is enough space for the flight and the GNSS signals can be sporadically detected. For localization, we propose a state estimator that merges information from GNSS, Attitude and Heading …