Adaptive Real-Time Clustering Method for Dynamic Visual Tracking of Very Flexible Wings

Mkhoyan, Tigran; Visser, Coen C. de; Breuker, Roeland De

doi:10.2514/1.i010860

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Next to the state-of-the-art sensor technologies described in Section 3, the wing was equipped with conventional strain gauges (for reference purposes only) and LEDs for a novel vision-based wing motion tracking system, as described in Refs. [32,33]. These sensors are integrated into the wing at the early stage of the manufacturing process.…”

Section: Sensor System Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of the SmartX Wing Technology Integrator

Breuker

Mkhoyan²,

Nazeer³

et al. 2022

Actuators

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article describes the challenges of integrating smart sensing, actuation, and control concepts into an over-sensed and over-actuated technology integrator. This technology integrator has more control inputs than the expected responses or outputs (over-actuated), and its every state is measured using more than one sensor system (over-sensed). The hardware integration platform is chosen to be a wind tunnel model of a low-speed aircraft wing such that it can be tested in a large university-level wind tunnel. This hardware technology integrator is designed for multiple objectives. The nature of these objectives is aerodynamic, structural, and aeroelastic, or, more specifically; drag reduction, static and dynamics loads control, aeroelastic stability control, and lift control. Enabling technologies, such as morphing, piezoelectric actuation and sensing, and fibre-optic sensing are selected to fulfil the mentioned objectives. The technology integration challenges are morphing, actuation integration, sensor integration, software and data integration, and control system integration. The built demonstrator shows the intended level of technology integration.

show abstract

Section: Sensor System Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of the SmartX Wing Technology Integrator

Breuker

Mkhoyan²,

Nazeer³

et al. 2022

Actuators

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The filtering consists of image threshold filtering and morphological image transformations [42] to improve the segmentation of distinct LED markers. An example of similar segmentation and filtering approach is presented in [28]. Active adjustment of the IR brightness was needed to prevent two or more markers from merging into a single blob for far away camera views.…”

Section: B Processing Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous study in OJF, a 3-D reconstruction approach with a stereo-camera setup was developed, which showed sensitivity to camera calibration due to the adverse environmental condition in the wind tunnel (flow conditions and mechanical vibrations) [28]. A generally suitable approach to improve the tracking accuracy and add redundancy to the tracking system is a multicamera (>2) setup [43].…”

Section: B Processing Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As compared to conventional sensors, such as strain gauges and accelerometers, computer vision has higher scalability, implementation flexibility, and robustness towards temperature variations [27]. In our previous research, vision-based tracking has demonstrated its effectiveness in flexible and morphing system shape estimations, featured by its noninvasive and model-free natures [28]. Coupled with nonlinear filtering techniques, a vision-based tracking system can be retro-fitted to an existing wing design and provide the capability to measure wing vibrations in the presence of gusts [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our previous research, vision-based tracking has demonstrated its effectiveness in flexible and morphing system shape estimations, featured by its noninvasive and model-free natures [28]. Coupled with nonlinear filtering techniques, a vision-based tracking system can be retro-fitted to an existing wing design and provide the capability to measure wing vibrations in the presence of gusts [28]. This setup can also be used as a stabilization system for flappingwings [29], obstacle avoidance for UAVs [30], and flight maneuvering tracking [31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Vision-Based Nonlinear Incremental Control for a Morphing Wing With Mechanical Imperfections

Sun

Mkhoyan

Kampen

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Morphing structures have acquired much attention in the aerospace community because they enable an aircraft to actively adapt its shape during flight, leading to fewer emissions and fuel consumption. Researchers have designed, manufactured, and tested a morphing wing named SmartX-Alpha, which can actively alleviate loads while achieving the optimal lift distribution. However, the widely existing mechanical imperfections can degrade the performance of the morphing wing and even lead to instabilities. To tackle these issues, this article proposes a vision-based adaptive control approach to actively compensate for mechanical imperfections. In this approach, an incremental model is constructed online to identify the system dynamics using servo commands and vision measurements, and then, nonlinear dynamic inversion control is applied based on the identified model. This data-driven control approach with visual feedback has been validated by real-world experiments on the SmartX-Alpha. The results demonstrate that the vision-based system combined with the proposed control methodology can actively compensate for mechanical imperfections with minimal adjustments to the actual system design. Compared to a controller that only uses a feedforward input-output mapping, this proposed approach improves the system performance and decreases the tracking errors by more than 62% despite disturbances. The results collectively demonstrate the effectiveness of Manuscript

show abstract

Morphing wing design using integrated and distributed trailing edge morphing

Mkhoyan

Thakrar

DeBreuker

et al. 2022

Smart Mater. Struct.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The presented study investigates the design and development of an autonomous morphing wing concept developed in the scope of the SmartX project, which aims to demonstrate in-flight performance optimisation with active morphing. To progress this goal, a novel distributed morphing concept with six translation induced camber morphing trailing edge modules is proposed in this study. The modules are interconnected using elastomeric skin segments to allow seamless variation of local lift distribution along the wingspan. A fluid-structure interaction optimisation tool is developed to produce an optimised laminate design considering the ply orientation, laminate thickness, laminate properties and actuation loads of the module. Analysis of the kinematic model of the integrated actuator system is performed, and a design is achieved, which meets the required continuous load and fulfils both static and dynamic requirements in terms of bandwidth and peak actuator torque with conventional actuators. The morphing design is validated using digital image correlation measurements of the morphing modules. Characterisation of mechanical losses in the actuator mechanism is performed. Out-of-plane deformations in the bottom skin and added stiffness of the elastomer are identified as the impacting factors of the reduced tip deflection.

show abstract

Adaptive Real-Time Clustering Method for Dynamic Visual Tracking of Very Flexible Wings

Cited by 4 publications

References 30 publications

Overview of the SmartX Wing Technology Integrator

Overview of the SmartX Wing Technology Integrator

Vision-Based Nonlinear Incremental Control for a Morphing Wing With Mechanical Imperfections

Morphing wing design using integrated and distributed trailing edge morphing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About