Research & Engineering Research & Engineering Center Center

for for Unmanned VehiclesUnmanned Vehicles

Graduate Recruitment Visit March 9th, 2006

Cory DixonPh.D. Candidate

3/9/2006 http://recuv.colorado.edu 2

The Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles at the University of Colorado at Boulder is a university, government, and industry partnership dedicated to advancing knowledge and capabilities in using unmanned vehicles for scientific experiments, collecting geospatial data, mitigation of natural and man-made disasters, and defense against terrorist and hostile military activities.

Research and Engineering Center forUnmanned Vehicles

University of Colorado at Boulderhttp://recuv.colorado.edu

Research & Engineering Research & Engineering Center for Unmanned Center for Unmanned

VehiclesVehicles

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RECUV ProjectsRECUV Projects

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Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinary FacultyFaculty

(and students)(and students)Brian Argrow AE

SPlatforms

Penny Axelrad

AES

GPS, Navigation

John Bennett CS Distributed Systems

Tim Brown ECE

ITP

Ad Hoc Comms

Bill Emery AES

Remote Sensing

Eric Frew AES

Collaborative Nav

Harvey Gates ITP Swarming, OPVs

Rick Han CS Wireless Sensor Nets

Dale Lawrence

AES

Platforms and Controls

YC Lee ME MEMS

Tom Lookabaugh

CSITP

Imagery

Jim Maslanik AES Atmospheric Sci

Kurt Maute AES Airframe Design

Kamran Mohseni AES Platforms

George Morgenthaler

AES Industry Outreach

Todd Murphey ECE Robotics

Ray Nettleton ITP Wireless Comms

Scott Palo AES Electronics

Lucy Pao ECE Control Systems

Zoya Popavic ECE Antennas

Doug Sicker CSITP

Security

Howard Snyder AES Industry Outreach

Alex Wolf CS Software, Comms

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MAV and UUVMAV and UUV

• Dr. Kamran Mohseni• Dr. Dale Lawrence

http://enstrophy.colorado.edu/~mohseni/MicroVehicles1.html

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AUGNetAUGNet

Scenario 1: increase ground node connectivity.

NOC

Scenario 2: increase UAV mission range.

We call such communication anAUGNet: Ad hoc UAV Ground Network

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AUGNet WiFiAUGNet WiFiCommunication Communication

HardwareHardware

16cm

Common Hardware802.11b PCMCIA card

Soekris single board computer0.1-1W Amplifier

GPS (for monitoring)256MB CF “personality”

21cm

Environmental Enclosure UAV Mounting

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Flight RangeFlight Range

Table Mountain Radio Quiet Zone

15km north of the University of Colorado

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Hardware-in-the-loop Hardware-in-the-loop TestingTesting

Fast debugging in the lab!vs.

Painful lessons in the field!

FlightGear

VirtualCockpit

Operator Interface

Simulator

Ares-2

Ground Station

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Networked UAV Networked UAV CC33

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• Modular– No need for a central F.C. but

one can be easily added• Future upgrade of comm system

– Interface Board for each module– Subsystems

• Autopilot Interface• Communication• Supervisory Computer• Sensor Interfaces

• In-house System Design– Microcontroller Interface Boards– Using commercial components– SW drivers already written

• Systems– Plug-n-Play modules as needed

Naiad Naiad Avionics/Interface Avionics/Interface

BoardBoard

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Leashing Leashing ProblemProblem

Radio Leashing: maintaining a communication link between a UAV and another mobile network node based on locally measured communication performance metrics.

• Leashing Goals– Maintain communication with a mobile base

station in an unknown environment– Increase communication range of base

station using UAV as airborne relay – Maximize ground coverage for on board

sensors

• Leashing Applications– Communication in mountainous terrain,

e.g. wildland firefighting– Perimeter surveillance– Stand-off tracking of ground vehicles

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Network Chaining: maintaining a communication link between two disconnected nodes (networks) using only

information available from the established communication links.

Network ChainingNetwork Chaining

Leashed chain for long-range sensing.

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Position Based?Position Based?

-1000 -500 0 500 1000

-1000

-500

0

500

1000

X-Location [m]

Y-L

ocat

ion

[m]

SNR Field Lines

-1000 -500 0 500 1000

-1000

-500

0

500

1000

X-Location [m]

Y-L

ocat

ion

[m]

SNR Field Lines

Communication Range

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Track SNR Level Track SNR Level SetsSets

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 40000

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000UAV Location over Time

Y-P

ositi

on [

m]

X-Position [m]

25

2530

35

40

25

25

30

35

40

SNR Orbital LeashingSNR Orbital Leashing Constant SNR ChainingConstant SNR Chaining

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Cooperative Search Cooperative Search and Trackingand Tracking

Image courtesy of MLB Co.

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Vision-Based Vision-Based ControlControl

xtrack

ytrack

ztrack

Proad yb

xb

zb

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PROPOSAL: PROPOSAL: Cooperative Mobile Cooperative Mobile Sensing SystemsSensing Systems

STORM

WILDFIRE

POLAR

Research Thrusts

WILDFIRE addresses the sensing, communications, and safety needs to support fire-fighting operations and increase capabilities for modeling and prediction;

POLAR addresses heterogeneous mixes of sensor-integrated unmanned vehicles for novel, in-situ data acquisition in volumes that range from beneath the ocean surface into the troposphere;

STORM addresses the challenges of volumetric in-situ data acquisition in severe storms, from the ground into the cloud.

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StormStorm

STORM

WILDFIRE

POLAR

• Science Needs– Thermodynamic and microphysical properties aloft in

the rear-flank of supercell storms• 10-Year Goal:

– Routine sampling of the thermodynamic and microphysical properties of the supercell rear flank region above ground

• State of the Art– Balloon-borne soundings (generally unsuccessful)– Manned aircraft penetration (will not be repeated)– Attempts at thermodynamic retrieval from

documentation of flow• Barriers

– Horizontal and vertical wind shear and turbulence– Thermodynamic and microphysical observations to

complement mobile Doppler radar– Vehicle survival in hazardous environment– Rapid deployment, i.e., ‘scrambling’ vehicles

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Mobile Doppler RadarMobile mesonet

UAVs sampling updraft region

Field Command Center

TornadoChaserTornadoChaser

Unraveling Tornadogenesis

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Meteorological Aerial Meteorological Aerial Research SondeResearch Sonde

• Paraglider• Static Line Drop from

Tubes Mounted on small UAV

• GPS, XBee Pro Radio, Pressure Sensor mounted on PCB

• Temperature sensor in vehicle nose cone

• Two separate power systems – Avionics– Vehicle

• Parafoil detached upon landing

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MARSMARSOperations OverviewOperations Overview

Table Mountain Radio Quiet ZonePicture from Reference 1

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Flying isFlying isFUN!FUN!

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On the Range!On the Range!

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Not Always Hard Not Always Hard WorkWork

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VisitorsVisitors

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They Really Do They Really Do FlyFly