Visual Guidance Of Unmanned Aerial Manipulators

This monograph covers theoretical and practical aspects of the problem of autonomous guiding of unmanned aerial manipulators using visual information. For the estimation of the vehicle state (position, orientation, velocity, and acceleration), the authors propose a method that relies exclusively on the use of low-cost and highrate sensors together with low-complexity algorithms. This is particularly interesting for applications in which on board computation with low computation power is needed. Another relevant topic covered in this monograph is visual servoing. The authors present an uncalibrated visual servo scheme, capable of estimating at run time, the camera focal length from the observation of a tracked target. The monograph also covers several control techniques, which achieve a number of tasks, such as robot and arm positioning, improve stability and enhance robot arm motions. All methods discussed in this monograph are demonstrated in simulation and through real robot experimentation. The text is appropriate for readers interested in state estimation and control of aerial manipulators, and is a reference book for people who work in mobile robotics research in general.

This text is a thorough treatment of the rapidly growing area of aerial manipulation. It details all the design steps required for the modeling and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped with robotic manipulators. Starting with the physical basics of rigid-body kinematics, the book gives an in-depth presentation of local and global coordinates, together with the representation of orientation and motion in fixed- and moving-coordinate systems. Coverage of the kinematics and dynamics of unmanned aerial vehicles is developed in a succession of popular UAV configurations for multirotor systems. Such an arrangement, supported by frequent examples and end-of-chapter exercises, leads the reader from simple to more complex UAV configurations. Propulsion-system aerodynamics, essential in UAV design, is analyzed through blade-element and momentum theories, analysis which is followed by a description of drag and ground-aerodynamic effects. The central part of the book is dedicated to aerial-manipulator kinematics, dynamics, and control. Based on foundations laid in the opening chapters, this portion of the book is a structured presentation of Newton–Euler dynamic modeling that results in forward and backward equations in both fixed- and moving-coordinate systems. The Lagrange–Euler approach is applied to expand the model further, providing formalisms to model the variable moment of inertia later used to analyze the dynamics of aerial manipulators in contact with the environment. Using knowledge from sensor data, insights are presented into the ways in which linear, robust, and adaptive control techniques can be applied in aerial manipulation so as to tackle the real-world problems faced by scholars and engineers in the design and implementation of aerial robotics systems. The book is completed by path and trajectory planning with vision-based examples for tracking and manipulation.

Written by an expert with more than 30 years of experience, Guidance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles contains new analytical results, taken from the author's research, which can be used for analysis and design of unmanned aerial vehicles guidance and control systems. This book progresses from a clear elucidation of guidance laws and unmanned aerial veh

Aerial Robotic Workers: Design, Modeling, Control, Vision and Their Applications provides an in-depth look at both theory and practical applications surrounding the Aerial Robotic Worker (ARW). Emerging ARWs are fully autonomous flying robots that can assist human operations through their agile performance of aerial inspections and interaction with the surrounding infrastructure. This book addresses all the fundamental components of ARWs, starting with the hardware and software components and then addressing aspects of modeling, control, perception of the environment, and the concept of aerial manipulators, cooperative ARWs, and direct applications. The book includes sample codes and ROS-based tutorials, enabling the direct application of the chapters and real-life examples with platforms already existing in the market. Addresses the fundamental problems of UAVs with the ability of utilizing aerial tools in the fields of modeling, control, navigation, cooperation, vision and interaction with the environment Includes open source codes and libraries, providing a complete set of information for readers to start their experimentation with UAVs, and more specifically, ARWs Provides multiple, real-life examples and codes in MATLAB and ROS

Probabilistic and combinatorial techniques are often used for solving advanced problems. This book describes different probabilistic modeling methods and their applications in various areas, such as artificial intelligence, offshore platforms, social networks, and others. It aims to educate how modern probabilistic and combinatorial models may be created to formalize uncertainties; to train how new probabilistic models can be generated for the systems of complex structures; to describe the correct use of the presented models for rational control in systems creation and operation; and to demonstrate analytical possibilities and practical effects for solving different system problems on each life cycle stage.

Control of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles is an edited book that provides a single-volume snapshot on the state of the art in the field of control theory applied to the design of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), aka “drones”, employed in a variety of applications. The homogeneous structure allows the reader to transition seamlessly through results in guidance, navigation, and control of UAVs, according to the canonical classification of the main components of a UAV’s autopilot. Each chapter has been written to assist graduate students and practitioners in the fields of aerospace engineering and control theory. The contributing authors duly present detailed literature reviews, conveying their arguments in a systematic way with the help of diagrams, plots, and algorithms. They showcase the applicability of their results by means of flight tests and numerical simulations, the results of which are discussed in detail. Control of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles will interest readers who are researchers, practitioners or graduate students in control theory, autonomous systems or robotics, or in aerospace, mechanical or electrical engineering.

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in modern military operations for reconnaissance and other missions continues to grow. UAV systems using remote control guidance are limited in range and subject to Electronic Warfare concerns. Guidance Systems using only Global Positioning Service (GPS) or an Inertial Navigation System (INS) are limited to a pre-programmed route of flight. A vision guidance system that can control the UAV over an arbitrary course is not subject to these limitations. This thesis uses classical control methods to develop and test an autonomous vision controller for the FOG-R UAV (FROG). First, a computer model of the camera output for a flight that tracks a river is made to develop the controller and to test it in nonlinear simulation. Finally, the complete system is flight tested on the FROG UAV. The design and test equipment include a highly modified FOG-R UAV from the U.S. Army, the MATRIXx Product Family of software tools developed by Integrated Systems, Inc., and a Ground Station built at NPS from commercially available computer and communication equipment.

Aerial robotic manipulation integrates concepts and technologies coming from unmanned aerial systems and robotics manipulation. It includes not only kinematic, dynamics, aerodynamics and control but also perception, planning, design aspects, mechatronics and cooperation between several aerial robotics manipulators. All these topics are considered in this book in which the main research and development approaches in aerial robotic manipulation are presented, including the description of relevant systems. In addition of the research aspects, the book also includes the deployment of real systems both indoors and outdoors, which is a relevant characteristic of the book because most results of aerial robotic manipulation have been validated only indoor using motion tracking systems. Moreover, the book presents two relevant applications: structure assembly and inspection and maintenance, which has started to be applied in the industry. The Chapters of the book will present results of two main European Robotics Projects in aerial robotics manipulation: FP7 ARCAS and H2020 AEROARMS. FP7 ARCAS defined the basic concepts on aerial robotic manipulation, including cooperative manipulation. The H2020 AEROARMS on aerial robot with multiple arms and advanced manipulation capabilities for inspection and maintenance has two general objectives: (1) development of advanced aerial robotic manipulation methods and technologies, including manipulation with dual arms and multi-directional thrusters aerial platforms; and (2) application to the inspection and maintenance.