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Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) provide a versatile platform well-suited to applications requiring the efficiency of fixed-wing flight with the maneuverability of a multicopter. Prior work has introduced the concept of using solar energy harvesting using photovoltaic cells embedded in the wings of the vehicle to perform self-recharge in the field when landed and at rest. This work demonstrates a further extension of this concept by optimizing the VTOL aircraft for maximum input-to-output power ratio, such that continuous flight is possible for the majority of a typical day with good sunlight. By also adding amphibious design elements, a transoceanic flight cycle is proposed. The candidate aircraft design is shown with estimated and actual behavioral and performance data for hovering and forward flight. Artwork for design elements such as the tiltrotor nacelle design and interchangeable avionics pod are shown.
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uavEE: A Modular, Power-Aware Emulation Environment for Rapid Prototyping and Testing of UAV
State of the art design and testing of avionics for unmanned aircraft is an iterative process that involves many test flights, interleaved with multiple revisions of the flight management software and hardware. To significantly reduce flight test time and software development costs, we have developed a real-time UAV Emulation Environment (uavEE) using ROS that interfaces with high fidelity simulators to simulate the flight behavior of the aircraft. Our uavEE emulates the avionics hardware by interfacing directly with the embedded hardware used in real flight. The modularity of uavEE allows the integration of countless test scenarios and applications. Furthermore, we present an accurate data driven approach for modeling of propulsion power of fixed-wing UAVs, which is integrated into uavEE. Finally, uavEE and the proposed UAV Power Model have been experimentally validated using a fixed-wing UAV testbed.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1646383
- PAR ID:
- 10082990
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Embedded and Real-Time Computing Systems and Applications (RTCSA)
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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