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.
Issue link: https://insideunmanned.epubxp.com/i/668560
50 unmanned systems inside April/May 2016 AIR INNOVATION Photo courtesy of Sensefly rity applications, infrastructure inspection and even pollen distribution. "This is the next evolution up from regular f lying drones," Ratti said. "Especially when do- ing covert spy ops, small drones are the only thing that's sustainable and insect-inspired drones give you the efficiencies you need. But- terf lies can ride winds for days without stop- ping. Dragonf lies f ly for hours. As technology evolves, the goal is to get these drones small and the only way to get them small and effi- ciently f ly them is through f lapping wings. You can't have propellers or regular airfoils. They have to f lap." Swarming In time, it will be common to see multiple UAS f lying together in small spaces, which means they're going to need to learn how to perceive each other and to coordinate their f light, Flo- reano said. This is something insects do naturally. Honeybees swarm at very fast speeds. Mos- quitos form a dense column and f ly together in perfectly coordinated f lights—without ever hitting each other. While not much is known about how they do this, Floreano said, study- ing these behaviors could help drones achieve something similar. "Agencies will most likely only let drones f ly over restricted areas, which will be like corridors where you have lots of drones f ly- ing at high speed like cars in the sky," Flo- reano said. "How do we coordinate that? Drones could use the sounds of other drones to know where they are or they could use vision." The Challenges While drones can learn a lot from insects, there are plenty of challenges to this type of research. For starters, insects are very small and it's diffi- cult to understand what neurons are involved in the computation and characterization of infor- mation, Humbert said. To help get past this, he works closely with biologists who understand insect physiology and anatomy to learn more about the functions of their different neural pathways. "There are so many things we don't know about how insects use vision to coordinate their f light," Floreano said. "We have to work with biologists to study them and figure out what they use and translate that into algo- rithms that allow us to use a visual system for landing, take off, collision avoidance and f ly- ing with other drones." Miniaturization of the sensors and the ac- tuation system is also difficult, Floreano said. It's also key to finding the right materials that enable UAS to f ly to have sufficient power to stay aloft for longer than 20 or 30 minutes. This is pretty unconventional research, Ratti said, and there's really no template to look at to help with the designs. Helicopters, for ex- ample, have evolved over many years and ben- efited from engineering improvements. Trying to mimic a complicated insect like the drag- onf ly, however, is comparable to developing a two or four stroke engine with multiple belts, drives and gears to get the right articulation of the wings so they f lap effectively. Like the Robot Dragonf ly, Flyability's Gim- ball has seen many different iterations, and Thévoz said one of the challenges was com- pleting those iterations as quickly as possible. To make sure they were developing a product needed in the market, he and his team mem- bers spent, and still do spend, a lot of time in the field performing missions. BETTER THAN GPS Sensefl y uses insect inspired optic-based sensors in its drones—a technology from Dario Floreano's lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The UAS are launched by hand and use vision-based sensors to return when it's time to land. This is more reliable than GPS, Floreano said, because GPS just isn't accurate enough for altitude regulation when fl ying a few meters above the ground. GPS is also not always available, particularly in conf ned areas such as cities, forests and buildings. Researchers aren't just looking to insects for inspiration from nature. They're also looking at birds to help develop more efficient drones. Check out the article, "Drones Take Wing," in the January/February issue or at insideunmannedsystems.com. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ius "AGENCIES WILL most likely only let drones fl y over restricted areas, which will be like corridors where you have lots of drones fl ying at high speed like cars in the sky. How do we coordinate that?" Professor Dario Floreano, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology SenseFly eXom rotorcraft