Abstract
One of the major limitations of existing unmanned aerial vehicles is limited flight endurance. In this study, we designed an innovative uninterrupted electromagnetic propulsion device for high-endurance missions of a quadcopter drone for the lucrative exploration of earth and other planets with atmospheres. As an airborne platform, this device could achieve scientific objectives better than state-of-the-art revolving spacecraft and walking robots, without any terrain limitation. We developed a mixed reality simulation based on a quadcopter drone and an X-Plane flight simulator. A computer with the X-Plane flight simulator represented the virtual part, and a real quadcopter operating within an airfield represented the real part. In the first phase of our study, we developed a connection interface between the X-Plane flight simulator and the quadcopter ground control station in MATLAB. The experimental results generated from the Earth’s atmosphere show that the flight data from the real and the virtual quadcopters are precise and very close to the prescribed target. The proof-of-concept of the mixed reality simulation of the quadcopter at the Earth atmosphere was verified and validated through several experimental flights of the F450 spider quadcopter with a Pixhawk flight controller with the restricted endurance at the airfield location of Hangang Drone Park in Seoul, South Korea. We concluded that the new generation drones integrated with lightweight electromagnetic propulsion devices are a viable option for achieving unrestricted flight endurance with improved payload capability for Earth and other planetary explorations with the aid of mixed reality simulation to meet the mission flight path demands. This study provides insight into mixed reality simulation aiming for Mars explorations and high-endurance missions in the Earth’s atmosphere with credibility using quadcopter drones regulated by dual-head electromagnetic propulsion devices.
Highlights
Multicopter rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are less susceptible to turbulence as compared with similar-sized fixed wing aircraft
A large volume of simulation studies on UAVs are available in the open literature, there are no studies that address the overall view and performance of mixed reality (MR) simulation of UAVs [27,28,29], which we have addressed, along with the preliminary design of a quadcopter UAV governed by dual-head electromagnetic propulsion (EMP) devices for high endurance planetary explorations
We conclude that the proposed new generation quadcopter drone integrated with lightweight electromagnetic propulsion devices is a viable option for achieving high-endurance with improved payload capability for earth and other planetary exploration with the aid of a mixed-reality simulation to meet the flight path demands of the mission
Summary
Multicopter rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are less susceptible to turbulence as compared with similar-sized fixed wing aircraft. We proposed a viable option of a new generation quadcopter UAV integrated with lightweight feedback-controlled dual-head EMP devices which achieves the variable-speed spinning rotors to obtain a desirable lift with an efficient guidance, navigation, and control system, in accordance with local atmospheric properties, for high-endurance Earth and other planetary explorations with the aid of MR simulation to meet the flight path demands of the mission. A large volume of simulation studies on UAVs are available in the open literature, there are no studies that address the overall view and performance of MR simulation of UAVs [27,28,29], which we have addressed, along with the preliminary design of a quadcopter UAV governed by dual-head EMP devices for high endurance planetary explorations. Using this MR simulation technique, we can solve the problem of limited flight endurance due to visibility problems during a long-time mission of any quadcopter
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