Inside Unmanned Systems

FEB-MAR 2016

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY. 37 unmanned systems inside January/February 2016 digit–I digit–II digit–III tail transmitter power board arm wing mcb, imu silicon mcmb Washington in Seattle, design a UAS with detect and avoid capabilities. The aircraft was able to successfully avoid man-made and natural obstacles as it f lew. This is a capabil- ity UAS must achieve before they can be inte- grated fully into the National Airspace. The Benefi ts Soon-Jo Chung, associate professor for Aero- space Engineering & Coordinated Science Lab- oratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, has been reverse engineering the agility and maneuverability of birds and bats for years, and was the first to develop a bird-like UAS with the ability to perch on a human hand. He's currently working on two projects—one to design a UAS that looks and acts like a falcon to steer birds away from airplanes and another to build bat-inspired drones to monitor complex environments, such as construction sites. Whether a drone has wings inspired by birds or bats, it will have more endurance and be safer than a drone that relies only on a high-speed mo- tor and perhaps spinning airfoils that could cause damage in a collision—not to mention the fact that they're quieter and more energy efficient, Chung said. Drones need to constantly run their motors as they're flying and typically run out of power fast. UAS inspired by birds simply don't need as much power to fly, and have much more endur- ance than the drones we're used to seeing today. "If a drone is bird- or bat-like it's much lighter and more energy efficient because it can glide without moving its wing at all," Chung said. "They can fly much longer distances, which is a big benefit. They can stoop and perch on a wire and maybe even recharge before they move on. These drones can be viewed as intelligent sens- ing vehicles for a variety of applications." The perching drone he developed can f lap its wings up and down as well as left to right, independent of each other. It can also glide, maneuver toward a target and make a soft landing like a bird. Through his research, Hedrick has found swallows are very good at extracting energy from the environment, getting "free rides" as often as possible, much like a glider. They f ly low near yards and golf courses to look for f lies, for instance, then change their eleva- tion to get back into the f low of the wind. This gives them kinetic energy to go back down- Soon-Jo Chung of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign is working to develop a bat-inspired UAS. The B2, or Bat Bot weighs 92 grams and features a microprocessor- based onboard computer, a 6 DOF IMU sensor package, f ve DC motors for f apping and wing articulation plus a carbon-f ber frame, 3D printed parts, and silicone-based membrane wings. Photo courtesy of Soon-Jo Chung, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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