Unmanned aerial vehicls - Essay Example

? Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Introduction Unmanned aerial vehicles act like ‘homing pigeons’ where they are designed to perform certain tasks and come back to their homes at a specified time. UAVs are remotely controlled as they have their pilots or operators directing their work. The military has designed UAVs that perform without the control of remote pilots. A smaller robotic UAV known as micro aerial vehicle (MAV) is now popularly used because of the low-cost in building and the variety of uses they can be applied, from military to civil applications. The U.S. military has used UAVs for surveillance and for actual military operations. In 2009, a UAV-controlled missile was successful in neutralizing a Taliban leader. Future plans of the U.S. Air Force include using UAVs and robots in ground assaults or in beach assault situations. UAVs can also perform military tasks like acquiring targets and rescuing soldiers from dangerous situations. Other uses include collecting data from sensors for use in making digital maps, dropping supplies extremely dangerous territory, and assisting with cyberwarfare attacks. Military UAVs are also known as the ‘flying eye’ because they are designed as surveillance system equipped with sensors and computerized components. The flying eye is deployed in the air to conduct surveillance, take pictures and collect information valuable for military or civilian purposes. When the UAV is in the air, it is programmed to fly for a predetermined flight path until it reaches back to the ground or base. Popularity and applications of UAVs UAVs were first popular with the military because they offer greater flexibility and are more advantageous in dangerous environments than manned aircraft. When it comes to technology, UAVs are effective with the newest technology, such as sensors, microprocessors, and propulsion systems, which can endure and are more effective than human pilots. In the military perspective, UAVs have proved effective in military missions and have also been proven successful in dangerous and contaminated environments where it is very dangerous for human-driven aircraft. (Nonami et al. 2010, p. 3) Complicated UAVs designed for military use are expensive and difficult to operate in crowded places. Designers have devised inexpensive UAVs and make it smaller and easy to operate. Micro air vehicles were built lightweight, with a wingspan of just about 15 cm. and weights about half a kilogram. MAVs can perform military tasks what larger ones cannot do. They can fly to close terrain or at dense forest environment, and collect data without being detected. MAVs can also be used for atmospheric studies without influencing airflows. MAVs can also perform surveillance missions for the military as they are built like stealth aircraft. (Langelaan & Roy 2009, p. 1642) Japan has the largest number of registered UAVs, particularly unmanned helicopters used in agriculture. In 2002, it exceeded other countries, such as Australia, West Europe and USA, in the number UAVs registered for civil and military use. The low risk and greater success in missions are major motivators for the use of UAVs in military and civil operations. It has been predicted that in the U.S., market for UAV will reach $16 billion, next is Europe which is currently spending approximately $3 billion. In Europe, this has increased slowly. (Nonami et al. 2010, p. 4) UAV components and designs Major components of a UAV include a microcontroller system, a compass, GPS, servo-controlled mechanism, and cameras or sensors. These components vary per different manufacturing specifications. More sophisticated UAVs are created by different manufacturers depending on the purpose for which they are made. There are various AUV designs which are made relative to their purpose; manufacturers provide designs for military surveillance and operations, for civil use and for hobbyists. More designs have been introduced for civil and military purposes. The industry is even made more competitive and vibrant as smaller firms have joined the competition. Sensors and microprocessors are the primary components of an unmanned aircraft. Microprocessors, which are used in many electronic gadgets and appliances, comprise the heart of the UAV while sensors are used for navigation. With the advancement of nano-technology, microprocessors are becoming smaller and smaller; thus, its use in smaller gadgets is made more applicable. MAVs need light payloads but are effective in difficult environments. UAVs also rely on communication systems that adaptable, flexible, and the bandwidth, frequency, and information can be easily controlled. Ground control has also been made feasible with the application of man-made interfaces, target identification, voice control and smaller equipment. (Nonami et al. 2010, p. 6) Hydra Technologies made the E1 Gavailan which weighs 4.5 kg. for the military. Its features include a 2.3 meter wingspan made of carbon fibre, s-glass, Kevlar and titanium airframe. This AUV can fly to as far as 10 kilometers and can endure up to 90 minutes. It is collapsible and can be disassembled and ready to carry in less than four minutes. There is also the AD-150 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) which is used in surveillance. It has a feature like the Osprey VTOL manned aircraft used by the military. The AD-150 can operate in the same battle field situations. This was made by the American Dynamics Flight Systems. It has a payload capability of 227 kg., 4.4 meters long, and 1.44 meters high, with a wingspan of 5.3 meters. As it goes up, the engine nacelles at the end of the wings rotate for horizontal flight. Figure 1 The AUV AD-150 VTOL aircraft landing on an aircraft-carrier deck at sea Another one is the HALO which looks like a soccer ball but is a micro-unmanned air vehicle developed by Cornerstone Research Group. It has backpack portable battery and has a fan style unit to provide vertical takeoff and landing capability. This AUV is specially made to fly within tunnels, caves, buildings or cluttered urban settings. It also has lightweight spring legs used for landing. (Bloss 2009, p. 15) The Fire Scout is an unmanned helicopter which is equipped with a radar system and optical and sensor systems. This is an all-weather and day/night capability helicopter which can travel at a speed of 80 knots and can carry a payload of up to 272 kilograms with a maximum endurance of more than 8 hours. It has a rotor of 8.4 meters in diameter and can be folded for shipboard storage. The Fire Scout is 7 meters long and is powered by a Rolls Royce 250-C20W jet turbine engine and can fly up to 6.1 kilometers altitude. (Bloss 2009, p. 16) The Predator UAV has been very effective in reconnaissance operations. It has a wing span of 49 feet and can fly with a payload of more than 450 pounds. It can fly at an altitude of 26,000 feet at 120 knots. The Predator has a complicated sensing system, equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optical and infrared cameras. (Hollingum 1998, p. 381) UAVs changing people’s lives UAVs are not anymore solely for military use but for businesses and hobbyists. Cost for building UAVs have lowered allowing hobbyists to build and fulfill their dreams. There are states however that outlaw the use of UAVs, especially helicopter drones, for business purposes and not for recreational use. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Panel is the European Commission’s agency that handles UAV matters and it met last year to formulate rules and technologies important for UAVs and civilian airspace these are allowed. The Panel discussed on collision avoidance systems and other important matters about UAVs which were agreed to take effect on 2013 and 2015. A new development over the UAV as a hobby, a private group known as Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (UVS) has been in the forefront of investigations on whether AUVs can be used in many areas, such as police work, helping in emergency situations like natural calamities, and in advertising or spreading fertilizer. (Marks 2012, p. 20) In Brazil, UAVs are already being used in agriculture to survey soybean and sugar cane fields. Scientists in Antarctica have been using UAV helicopters, one remote controlled and the other on autopilot, to help them in creating 3D maps. In Belgium, they use AUVs to take aerial photographs with a five-centimeter resolution at Easter Island, a World Heritage Site. In Nelson County, North Dakota, police used the Predator-B UAV to track down armed cattle-rustlers. They successfully apprehended the suspects. (Marks 2012, p. 21) Studies about UAVs There have been various studies aiming to develop more effective results from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and to reduce the cost and risk of UAV missions, for military and civil applications. These studies have focused on the application of UAVs in groups or teams, which according to experts result in more successes. For example, reconnaissance missions of a team of UAVs can cover a bigger area in a short period. The downside here is that there is limitation on current airspace management. The solution is to develop a group of autonomous UAVs. This principle is inspired by the performance of a flock of birds. Clough (as cited in Chen & Chang, 2008, p. 269) described a flock as ‘a collection of autonomous agents, using local sensing and reactive behaviors, interacting such that a collective, global behavior emerges from their interactions’ (Chen & Chang, 2008, p. 269-270). Individuals use this technique to improve survivability by forming teams and by using distributed systems (Altenburg et al. as cited in Chen & Chang, 2008, p. 270). Other studies used what they called formation flight for two groups of aircraft, added with constellations of satellites. The use of autonomous UAVs allowed the miniature aircraft to be more effective even without connection with ground air traffic controller and this allowed individual UAV to manage their own airspace by communicating with their fellow UAVs in air. Studies have to continue to provide coordination among individual UAVs to prevent collisions. One solution that has been introduced is to allow the UAVs to act as a swarm to reduce ‘the complexity of motion control by reducing code size and communication requirements’ (Rathinam et al. as cited in Chen and Chang, 2008, p. 270). As mentioned in the introduction, UAVs are expensive, along with the studies and development to make them more effective for their mission. One mistake will result in a crush which may cost a lot for the owner. Makers apply software simulation before they test UAVs in the air. With this, they can develop and verify how UAs behave in actual flight. But each UAV behaves differently in the simulation process. An agent-based distributed simulation can work well and see if the UAVs work according to their purpose. In Chen and Chang’s (2008) work, they used a UAV simulator which had components like UAVs, obstacles, and targets. There were rules to make the UAVs a flock which included separation, alignment, and cohesion. The simulation scenarios included a battlefield. UAVs were represented by dark dots in the monitor, and target enemies represented by triangles. The UAVs were also used to identify targets and perform tracking. One feature of the UAVs was the ability to sense the existence of targets. The UAVs calculated the precise geometric location of the targets, tracked them locally and sent back messages back to the terminal end. (Chen & Chang 2008, p. 274) The study of Cheng and Chang (2008) performed a joint mission – dynamic team formation, mobile target tracking, and obstacle evasion. The use of computer simulation allowed them to see what would happen in the actual testing of the UAVs. They were successful on this regard. References Bloss, R 2009, ‘Latest unmanned vehicle show features both innovative new vehicles and miniaturization’, Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 13-18, viewed 20 July 2013, via ABI/INFORM Complete, DOI 10.1108/01439910910924620. Cheng, Y & Chang S 2008, ‘An agent-based simulation for multi-UAVs coordinative sensing’, International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 269-284, viewed 22 July 2013, via Emerald Group Publishing Limited, DOI 10.1108/17563780810874744. Hollingum, J 1998, ‘Unmanned vehicles go to war’, The Industrial Robot, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 379-383, viewed 20 July 2013, via ABI/INFORM Complete. Langelaan, J & Roy, N 2009, ‘Enabling new missions for robotic aircraft’, Science Magazine, vol. 326, pp. 1642-1644, viewed 21 July 2013, via www.sciencemag.org, DOI 10.1126/science.1182497. Marks, P 2012, ‘Drones for all take to the skies’, New Scientist, pp. 20-21, viewed 21 July 2013. Nonami, K, Kendoul S, Suzuki, S, Wang, W, & Nakazawa, D 2010, ‘Autonomous flying robots: unmanned aerial vehicles and micro aerial vehicles’, pp. 1-14, viewed 22 July 2013, Springer, DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-53856-1_1. Read More