Real-time path planning for long-term information gathering with an aerial glider

Nguyen, Joseph L.; Lawrance, Nicholas; Fitch, Robert; Sukkarieh, Salah

doi:10.1007/s10514-015-9515-3

Cited by 24 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The control input is a waypoint u = [x u , y u ] T , which is converted into a heading error ψ err and managed by a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller to command a roll rate p cmd . Glider motion model equations can be found in [3] and further notational details are provided in [14]. To enable fast path planning, a pre-computed lookup table of motion primitives is used.…”

Section: A Glider Motion Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The general idea of CTS Drif t follows [3], with the addition of an exploration phase. Information clusters are first identified.…”

Section: A Algorithm Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The informative soaring (IFS) problem combines informative path planning (IPP) with autonomous aerial soaring [1]- [3]. The problem formulation is motivated by a target-search scenario conducted by a gliding unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which periodically replenishes its energy level using thermal soaring.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our previous work, we showed that the IFS problem is NP-hard and proposed a cluster tree search (CTS) algorithm to yield path plans similar to exhaustive search, but with five to 20 times less computation [3]. CTS is designed for probabilistic search with complex belief maps that can be partitioned into regions of information, known as information clusters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Informative soaring with drifting thermals

Nguyen

Lawrance

Sukkarieh

2016

2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The informative soaring (IFS) problem involves a gliding unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) exploiting energy from thermals to extend its information gathering capability. In this paper, we address the realistic situation of detecting new thermals drifting with the wind in the search environment. We consider complex target-search scenarios characterised by information clusters and propose a new set of algorithms designed to both explore for and exploit high-value thermals to maximise information gain. Our algorithms: 1) compute a thermal exploration map to detect useful thermals that eventually intercept clusters, 2) solve a boundary value problem for interthermal path segment (ITP) generation with moving thermals, 3) compute thermal time windows to gather information from clusters and form a cluster service schedule, and 4) use branch and bound (BnB) tree search for global planning, considering high-utility-rate ITPs to maximise information gain. Our solution is compared against a greedy method that neither considers the thermal exploration map nor cluster schedule and a full knowledge method that has access to all thermals. Numerical simulations show that on average, our solution outperforms the greedy method in one-third of 2400 Monte Carlo trials, and achieves similar performance to the full knowledge method when environmental conditions are favourable.

show abstract

Section: A Glider Motion Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The general idea of CTS Drif t follows [3], with the addition of an exploration phase. Information clusters are first identified.…”

Section: A Algorithm Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Informative soaring with drifting thermals

Nguyen

Lawrance

Sukkarieh

2016

2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Lawrance et al [30,31] proposed an algorithm for determining the flight direction for the quickest energy harvest. Langelaan et al [32] and Rodriguez et al [33] proposed a method for estimating the wind field for trajectory design.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Albatross-Like Utilization of Wind Gradient for Unpowered Flight of Fixed-Wing Aircraft

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The endurance of an aircraft can be considerably extended by its exploitation of the hidden energy of a wind gradient, as an albatross does. The process is referred to as dynamic soaring and there are two methods for its implementation, namely, sustainable climbing and the Rayleigh cycle. In this study, the criterion for sustainable climbing was determined, and a bio-inspired method for implementing the Rayleigh cycle in a shear wind was developed. The determined sustainable climbing criterion promises to facilitate the development of an unpowered aircraft and the choice of a more appropriate soaring environment, as was demonstrated in this study. The criterion consists of three factors, namely, the environment, aerodynamics, and wing loading. We develop an intuitive explanation of the Raleigh cycle and analyze the energy mechanics of utilizing a wind gradient in unpowered flight. The energy harvest boundary and extreme power point were determined and used to design a simple bio-inspired guidance strategy for implementing the Rayleigh cycle. The proposed strategy, which involves the tuning of a single parameter, can be easily implemented in real-time applications. In the results and discussions, the effects of each factor on climbing performance are examined and the sensitivity of the aircraft factor is discussed using five examples. Experimental MATLAB simulations of the proposed strategy and the comparison of the results with those of Gauss Pseudospectral Optimization Software confirm the feasibility of the proposed strategy.

show abstract

Optimization approaches for civil applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or aerial drones: A survey

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or aerial drones, are an emerging technology with significant market potential. UAVs may lead to substantial cost savings in, for instance, monitoring of difficult‐to‐access infrastructure, spraying fields and performing surveillance in precision agriculture, as well as in deliveries of packages. In some applications, like disaster management, transport of medical supplies, or environmental monitoring, aerial drones may even help save lives. In this article, we provide a literature survey on optimization approaches to civil applications of UAVs. Our goal is to provide a fast point of entry into the topic for interested researchers and operations planning specialists. We describe the most promising aerial drone applications and outline characteristics of aerial drones relevant to operations planning. In this review of more than 200 articles, we provide insights into widespread and emerging modeling approaches. We conclude by suggesting promising directions for future research.

show abstract

Real-time path planning for long-term information gathering with an aerial glider

Cited by 24 publications

References 43 publications

Informative soaring with drifting thermals

Informative soaring with drifting thermals

Albatross-Like Utilization of Wind Gradient for Unpowered Flight of Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Optimization approaches for civil applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or aerial drones: A survey

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About