Ultrasonic sensor for UAV flight navigation

Abstract

Ultrasonic transducers were utilised for the design and development of an alternative method for flight instrumentation measurement of the velocity of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Current methods have been deemed to have significant shortcomings, such as the need for GPS thus leading to indoor UAV operations being incapable of velocity sensing. The proposed concept is developed from the utilisation of ultrasonic transit-time flowmeters. A test bench has been produced to measure the accuracy and confirm the validity of the concept. Two key design variables were determined -the optimal transducer mounting configuration and the optimal angle of incidence for the transducer mountings. The mounting configurations were analysed from common transit-time flowmeter sensor configurations and were tested using both CFD and acoustic simulations. The findings are presented and correlated based on these simulations and it was determined that a V-method configuration was the optimal choice. The correct angle of incidence was determined by an experimental methodology. The time-of-flight outputted from the transducers was compared to the calculated ideal value, and the findings revealed that an angle of 30° was the most accurate for the reflection of the emitted wave. The experimentation was conducted with a specially designed test bench and associated electronic hardware located in a wind tunnel. The test results have provided conclusive evidence that the overall design can produce accurate results comparable with current instrumentation sensors.

A Monocular SLAM-based Controller for Multirotors with Sensor Faults under Ground Effect

“…Applying ultrasonic wave propagation as an airflow velocity sensor is not a new concept. Ultrasonic sensors are used in several applications such as in gas, hydraulic and airflow meters [44,45]. This reinforces the idea that the ground effect could cause ultrasonic range sensor faults.…”

Review of Agricultural Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Obstacle Avoidance System

“…Others being maximum (peak) frequency and cross-correlation of raw data and PSD. Further work by Davies et al [25] using ultrasonic transit-time flow meters' reveals that the autonomous performance of ultrasonic sensors in-flight instrumentation of UAVs can be improved upon by optimal design of two variables-the mounting configuration and the optimal angle of incidence for the transducer mounting.…”

“…Through the image acquisition, Aeronautics -New Advances processing and calculation, the distance, azimuth and width and other parameter information of front obstacles are extracted [24]. Single camera-based obstacle avoidance systems use structured light to map their environment in 3D without being weighed down by traditional bulky LiDAR [25]. Wang et al [6] however observed that there are mutual interferences between adjacent structural light sensors with natural light nullifying structured light for the outdoor environment and hence not commonly used in agricultural UAVs.…”

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping and Tag-Based Navigation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

“…These simulations combine physical and real-world aspects, including robot behaviors. Furthermore, various integrated sensors such as LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), Inertia Measurement Units (IMUs), ultrasonic sensors, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) have been employed to measure the distance, position, and orientation of the drone in relation to its target object [4]. In another study, intelligent methods, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), have been used to study multiple filters in parallel with a dataset, particularly in the context of specific predictive modeling problems like picture classification.…”