Solving Navigation Problems Research Articles

ОБОБЩЕННЫЙ АЛГОРИТМ РАСПРЕДЕЛЕНИЯ РЕСУРСОВ КОМПЬЮТЕРНОГО ГЕНЕРАТОРА ИЗОБРАЖЕНИЯ ПО 3D-МОДЕЛИ ТЕРРИТОРИИ МЕСТНОСТИ

The development of modern software systems that use computer graphics algorithms in real time to create 3D-models of the terrain expands the range of training tasks available to the Customer for training pilots on aviation simulators. Particular attention is paid to training pilots in the skills of solving navigation problems while flying over certain 3D terrain, using visual references in the form of three-dimensional models of reference objects. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve several important aspects: the selection of 3D-objects on the terrain as reference points, the development of an information resource algorithm and the optimal distribution of computer image generator resources throughout the 3D-model of the terrain to ensure the possibility of synthesizing a sufficient number of 3D-models reference objects in real time. Solutions are presented for modeling a terrain area of sufficient size for distributing information resources and training the pilot to solve navigation problems.

UAV control in autonomous object-goal navigation: a systematic literature review

Research interest in autonomous control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has increased rapidly over the past decade. They are now widely used in civilian, military, and private areas. Applications include surveillance, search and rescue, and delivery tasks. More broadly, they excel at solving problems where a significant amount of space must be covered and traveled. However, using UAVs to solve navigation problems with full autonomy necessitates the mastering of complex subtasks. A solution that includes control, planning, localization, and mapping remains an open challenge. Object-goal navigation contains the same navigation problems where the main objective is to reach a target object. The search and identification of this target are central to the vehicle’s navigation. This requires an understanding of what it is and where it can be located to move around the scene. This paper presents a systematic literature review on object-goal navigation and its subtasks, using autonomous UAVs. Survey taxonomies were found for the tasks and methods behind navigation and target localization problems using UAVs. The review analyzed 67 articles found between 2011 and 2022. They were found in the ACM, IEEE Xplore, WebOfScience, Science Direct, and Scopus databases. This review revealed essential issues related to autonomous navigation task dependencies. Moreover, it highlighted gaps in UAV development and framework standardization. Open challenges for autonomous UAV control for object-goal navigation must address the research on finding methods for problems. For example, autonomy level and comparison metrics, considering safety, ethics, and legal implications.

Complexation of correlation-extreme navigation systems

The constantly increasing intensity of air traffic, due to the growth in the number of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as the increasingly frequent disruptions of radio navigation systems in recent years, require the development of new methods for increasing the accuracy and continuity of navigation support for flights. The use of correlation-extreme navigation systems (CENS), using digital terrain matrices (DEM) of the earth's surface, makes it possible to solve navigation problems when flying over many types of terrain. However, in the case of a multi-extreme correlation dependence, the problem of ambiguity in determining the location of the aircraft arises, which reduces the accuracy and continuity of the data generated by such a CENS. The aim of article to develop a method for integrating of airborne CENSs using DEM and optical images of the earth's surface to improve the accuracy and continuity of navigation determinations. A method has been developed for integrating CENS, built on the use of DEM and digital devices for the formation and processing of optical images, and allowing to increase the accuracy of classical correlation-extremal methods in the conditions of the emergence of multi-extremal correlation dependence. The paper examines the possibility of using digital devices for forming and processing images as part of the on-board equipment of an aircraft as a means of clarifying its current location when solving autonomous navigation problems, in particular, to correct deviations of the flight path of the aircraft from a given course.

Гарантированный результат оценки состояния компетентности судового специалиста

The article highlights the application of the principle of achieving the best guaranteed result in the tasks of assessing the qualifications of the ship crew members in performing their official duties (based on the use of a program for monitoring the actions of ship specialists aimed at solving navigation problems, under the influence of various negative factors - disturbances) are discussed. The case is considered when the disturbance acts on several controlled indicators at once (current constraints, final conditions, quality criterion). During the implementation of the monitoring program, the reaction of the crew members to a specific disturbance is evaluated (at the same time, only a set of possible disturbances is assumed to be known). The developed management program is able to guarantee a reliable assessment of the compliance of the current state of a specialist's competence with all the required parameters for the entire time interval under consideration. To do this, we have to assume that each indicator will have its own worst perturbation (even if the same perturbation should take different values at the same time). At the same time, upon completion of monitoring, the program outputs the results in the form of a report, which indicates the time interval of observations of the actions of a particular crew member, records the facts of errors, and displays information about the degree of influence of the error on the final result (provided there are no corrective actions on the part of both the specialist and other crew members). The report ends with a two-point competent/incompetent rating system. The disadvantage of the program is its inability to indicate the degree of influence of external factors on the results obtained, but at the same time all the information contained in the report allows the expert who checks the competence of this specialist to conclude about the degree of safety of the actions taken by the employee in a particular situation. The results of the work of the guaranteeing program in the task of operating the GMSSB ship complex are given as illustrations.

Analysis of directions for improvement of flight simulators

The modern development of science and technology makes it possible to modernize imitators for an aviation simulator and increase the number of training situations. This allows you to improve the professional skills of pilots. The development of most imitators is the development of programs for a specialized computer. Modern integrated aviation simulators are designed to teach pilots how to fly an aircraft in special flight situations, or training situations. The increase in training situations is the main task facing the developers of aviation simulators. Improvement of imitators allows to increase the number of training situations. This is possible if the imitators are upgraded to take into account the new capabilities of available software and new hardware. The existing integrated aviation simulators are designed to train pilots in the process of controlling an aircraft. It is impossible to create a complete model of any aircraft unit. Therefore, imitators for flight simulators were developed for training pilots only in special flight conditions. Therefore, the task of developing a imitator is the use of available software and available hardware to develop information processes that inform the pilot as much as possible when solving problems of controlling the aircraft model. Studies have shown that it is expedient to develop imitators taking into account the formation of individual components of the pilot's cognitive model, in which his experience in solving problems of aircraft control and experience in solving navigation problems is deposited. The article considers the main directions for improving imitators for flight simulators, taking into account their impact on the given components of the pilot's cognitive model.

Навигационно-пилотажная система транспортных беспилотных летательных аппаратов для лесохозяйственной практики

Nowadays there is a need to increase air transportation of light-weighted cargo in timber industry and forestry practice, in the work of industrial enterprises, forest protection services, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, etc. The use of helicopters cannot ensure efficiency and is not always advisable in cases of transportation of light-weighted, but extremely necessary cargo over short distances, for example, for fire extinguishing in offroad conditions. The article provides evidence of the production and economic feasibility of creating transport unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with flight navigation systems (FNS), which should ensure automatic flight and delivery of goods to the area of the forestry zone. The article provides a sketch of the flight map and the parameters of the UAV heading, as well as the block diagram of the FNS. The interaction of input devices for solving navigation problems is considered. The article notes that the FNS creation for automatic navigation of UAVs should be solved on the basis of the laws of applied mathematics and the ability to implement them in the development of algorithms and software and mathematical support as part of the FNS on-board computer. FNSs on the basis of the proposed structural scheme can also find application in order to control the environmental situation, to provide assistance in solving forestry problems related to monitoring and control over the conservation of wildlife, forest reserves and other natural resources of the country. The use of UAVs will ensure the safety of residents in the event of environmental and anthropogenic disasters. This will increase the efficiency of cargo delivery to remote areas of Russia for industrial purposes and to support the work of the Ministry of Defense to protect the northern borders, the protection of natural resources of the Arctic Ocean, etc. We consider it expedient and possible to recommend the creation of UAVs as transport vehicles, having regard to the current level of technological development, despite the existing significant challenges of technical and financial support during the introduction and operation of such vehicles. The domestic industry has the technical capabilities to develop UAVs. The feasibility of their creation should be determined by the interested organizations.

RL-DOVS: Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Robot Navigation in Dynamic Environments.

Autonomous navigation in dynamic environments where people move unpredictably is an essential task for service robots in real-world populated scenarios. Recent works in reinforcement learning (RL) have been applied to autonomous vehicle driving and to navigation around pedestrians. In this paper, we present a novel planner (reinforcement learning dynamic object velocity space, RL-DOVS) based on an RL technique for dynamic environments. The method explicitly considers the robot kinodynamic constraints for selecting the actions in every control period. The main contribution of our work is to use an environment model where the dynamism is represented in the robocentric velocity space as input to the learning system. The use of this dynamic information speeds the training process with respect to other techniques that learn directly either from raw sensors (vision, lidar) or from basic information about obstacle location and kinematics. We propose two approaches using RL and dynamic obstacle velocity (DOVS), RL-DOVS-A, which automatically learns the actions having the maximum utility, and RL-DOVS-D, in which the actions are selected by a human driver. Simulation results and evaluation are presented using different numbers of active agents and static and moving passive agents with random motion directions and velocities in many different scenarios. The performance of the technique is compared with other state-of-the-art techniques for solving navigation problems in environments such as ours.

Deep Learning-Based Complete Coverage Path Planning With Re-Joint and Obstacle Fusion Paradigm.

With the introduction of autonomy into the precision agriculture process, environmental exploration, disaster response, and other fields, one of the global demands is to navigate autonomous vehicles to completely cover entire unknown environments. In the previous complete coverage path planning (CCPP) research, however, autonomous vehicles need to consider mapping, obstacle avoidance, and route planning simultaneously during operating in the workspace, which results in an extremely complicated and computationally expensive navigation system. In this study, a new framework is developed in light of a hierarchical manner with the obtained environmental information and gradually solving navigation problems layer by layer, consisting of environmental mapping, path generation, CCPP, and dynamic obstacle avoidance. The first layer based on satellite images utilizes a deep learning method to generate the CCPP trajectory through the position of the autonomous vehicle. In the second layer, an obstacle fusion paradigm in the map is developed based on the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) onboard sensors. A nature-inspired algorithm is adopted for obstacle avoidance and CCPP re-joint. Equipped with the onboard LIDAR equipment, autonomous vehicles, in the third layer, dynamically avoid moving obstacles. Simulated experiments validate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed framework.

Normative and methodological support of control of electromagnetic fields at the ships

The seafarers carried out the professional activity in a complex electromagnetic environment (EME), with technical means, structural materials, depending on the purpose of the watercraft, architectural features, and vessel classification. There are static electric fields, permanent magnetic and low-frequency electric and magnetic fields on ships. Marine radio-electronic means (REM) creates Electromagnetic fields (EMF) of the radio frequency range that provide communication, the safety of navigation and operation, and solving navigation problems. According to the documents of the sanitary legislation, specialists carry out control of the maximum permissible EMF levels for watercraft and marine structures at the design stage of the vessel by calculating the intensity of electromagnetic fields during commissioning, instrumental control of EMF levels. There are new technical means in modern automated vessels of various types and purposes that create electromagnetic fields in the crew's stay zones, which makes it urgent to improve regulatory and methodological documents in the area of ensuring the electromagnetic safety of the team and passengers. The study aims to develop proposals for regulatory, methodological, and hardware control over compliance with the maximum permissible levels of electromagnetic fields on ships to ensure the electromagnetic safety of the crew. Generalization of materials of own research of EME on ships, systematization of sources of electromagnetic fields. Analysis of regulations in occupational safety and health for the protection of the crew from the effects of EME, methodological documents on the calculation forecasting, and instrumental determination of the levels of electromagnetic fields. Experts have revealed that there are electromagnetic fields of a wide frequency range in the premises of ships and on open decks. The study showed that electromagnetic fields of a wide frequency range are created in the premises of ships and on open decks. Indoors, the most significant is the impact on the crew of electric and magnetic fields with a frequency of 50 Hz created by the ship's electric power systems. In addition, on open decks (at workplaces and in crew recreation areas), the protection of the crew from EMF antennas of the radio frequency range is relevant. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods for calculating the prediction of EMF levels and improve the means of measuring electromagnetic fields on ships. The most common sources of EMF in the crew's stay areas are radio communication and radar facilities, ship's electric power systems. The task of developing a methodological document on the calculated prediction of EMF levels in rooms and on open decks at the design stage of ships is urgent. In addition, it is necessary to develop devices-meters of electromagnetic fields for instrumental monitoring of EMF levels in actual operating conditions of the vessel.

On the Benefits of Color Information for Feature Matching in Outdoor Environments

The detection and description of features is one basic technique for many visual robot navigation systems in both indoor and outdoor environments. Matched features from two or more images are used to solve navigation problems, e.g., by establishing spatial relationships between different poses in which the robot captured the images. Feature detection and description is particularly challenging in outdoor environments, and widely used grayscale methods lead to high numbers of outliers. In this paper, we analyze the use of color information for keypoint detection and description. We consider grayscale and color-based detectors and descriptors, as well as combinations of them, and evaluate their matching performance. We demonstrate that the use of color information for feature detection and description markedly increases the matching performance.

Toward Autonomous Quantum Communication

A machine-learning algorithm previously used to solve navigation problems can devise efficient ways to transmit quantum information.

Assessment of the decisions made by the marine vessel navigator

The paper deals with interdisciplinary scientific research that lies in cognitive psychology, information technology and navigation, and is devoted to the relevant topic of navigation - vessel navigator’s decision-making. It reflects the results of theoretical research on the formalization of certain aspects of human mental activity in relation to solving navigation problems. The specific nature of this paper lies in navigator’s inclusion into the ship management which leads to the need in simultaneous consideration of psychological characteristics and ship manageability characteristics. Thus, navigator’s decisions are subjective and consequently difficult to formalize. The purpose of the research is to formalize, i.e. to mathematically describe the quantitative assessment of navigator’s decision-making. Author’s method of probabilistic sense evaluation is used in this research. The semantic space structure, which channels navigator’s decision-making, is represented as the model of a semantic prism. The results are adapted to the concepts of navigation and may be of interest to specialists in ship traffic control automation, artificial intelligence, creation of intelligent control systems and navigation safety.

DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUGMENTED REALITY APPLICATION BASED ON UNREAL ENGINE 4

The aim of the work is to develop an augmented reality application for solving navigation problems in an urban environment. The software was created in the Unreal Engine platform, the program modules of the system are implemented in C ++. The use of these tools allows porting the application to various mobile platforms, including Android and iOS. The application is designed to display places of interest and routes, historical information about architectural objects of the city. The application can be useful for both tourists and residents of the city of Novosibirsk.

A complementary filter consisting of a GPS-receiver and an accelerometer

Complementary filters have become widely used to measure the angular position of moving objects in space due to their simplicity and high accuracy. If at first they were used mainly in navigation systems, now they are beginning to be widely used in navigation systems. In such complementary filters, the complementary filter most often includes a GPS receiver and an accelerometer. The problem of reducing the influence of high-frequency interference of the GPS receiver on the accuracy of the system is considered. Direct filtering of the output signal of the GPS receiver has a significant disadvantage, which is the delay of the filter of the measured signal. This is often the main obstacle of using filters. Complementary filters due to the combination of two meters make it possible to filter the signal without affecting the passage of the useful signal. This is the main advantage of complementary filters. It should also be noted that they are very simple to implement, which has led to the widespread use of complementary filters in systems for measuring the motion of objects. The paper proposes a second-order filter structure in which there is no integration of the accelerometer signal that significantly simplifies the implementation of the filter and eliminates the problem of the influence of the non-zero accelerometer signal. The presence of zero offset accelerometer and integration procedures is one of the main problems in solving navigation problems.
 In the absence of an integrator, the question arises of taking into account the initial value of the output signal of the GPS receiver. This issue in the work is solved by the circuit method. In complementary filters built on the compensation scheme, this problem is solved quite simply. The article considers a simpler complementary filter, built on the filtration scheme. An algorithm for taking into account the initial conditions is proposed for such a filter structure. The influence of the structure of the transfer functions of the filter on the efficiency of its use is analyzed. It is shown that the complementary filter can significantly reduce the influence of high-frequency noise of the GPS receiver. The block diagram of the filter in the Matlab-Simulink environment and the simulation results that show the effectiveness of the proposed complementary filter structure are presented.
 Such systems can be used in small moving objects like UAVs, in robotics, in the educational process.

The problem of implementation of automated air traffic control systems using EGNOS systems

Analysis of the problem of implementation of automated air traffic control systems showed that automation in aviation began to be used primarily to solve navigation problems and control various systems. The widespread introduction of computer-aided automation in ground-based air traffic control systems has freed air traffic controllers and air traffic controllers from time-consuming computational operations and made it possible to automate a number of complex tasks and thus significantly increase flight safety. Further development of aviation equipment, information technology, radio navigation and surveillance requires a rapid solution of complex problems with high accuracy, which necessitated the improvement of existing and creation of fundamentally new technical means that meet the requirements of modern aviation and international air traffic regulations. Such technical means include EGNOS systems. The study of the proposed location for the EGNOS RIMS station at the Kyiv International Airport (Zhulyany) was carried out. Thanks to the fruitful support of the DCA provided by the GSA contractor ThalesAleniaSpace, the study helped to gather the necessary data to work offline. This offline processing is complete and issues have been identified. The interference that has been selected affects the location. One of the key criteria for site selection is the radio frequency (RF) environment, as environmental conditions have a direct negative impact on the performance of the EGNOS system. It turns out that the measurements carried out during the study highlighted the sources of interference, the power of which exceeds the required level in the used frequency bands GPS L1 and L2. as these interferences will adversely affect the performance of the EGNOS RIMS receiver. One way to restore compliance is to study these interference sources and remove them if possible. On the other hand, the proposed location at Kyiv International Airport (Zhulyany) provides a promising level of compliance for life safety services.

Analytical Solution for a Problem on Approximation of Functional Dependences for Parameters of a Geodesic Line

A solution of a problem on synthesis for the analytical approximation of the dependence of longitude on latitude on the geodesic line of the spheroid and the great circle (orthodrome) of the Earth’s sphere is considered. Found functional dependencies can significantly reduce the instrumentation kit for measuring and navigation complex as well as the computational costs in solving navigation problems.

Модернизация устройства первичной обработки данных гирокомпаса

In the gyrocompasses manufactured by Perm Scientific and Production Instrument-Making Company, the errors of primary sensors of fiber-optic gyroscopes, accelerometers and primary data processing unit are mutually agreed upon according to terms of reference. Further increase in the accuracy of determining position of moving object in space using gyrocompass is possible only with coordinated reduction of all these errors. Continuous improvement of gyroscopes and accelerometers significantly increases the accuracy of determining primary information about position of moving object. This requires improvement of primary information processing unit. The current unit manufactured in this block includes four devices located on separate boards. It's analog-to-digital converter, computer, external communications board and power source. In this work, the device for primary processing of gyrocompass data was modernized. For this, the through design of single-board multifunctional device for primary data processing was carried out, which includes development of circuit diagram, wiring diagram and drawing of printed circuit board, modeling, prototyping, manufacturing and testing. Tests were carried out in heat chamber for temperature range from −30 ° С to + 55 ° С. The test results showed that one of the main characteristics of primary data processing unit, prescribed in statement of work - the temperature zero drift of analog-to-digital converter is three times improved. As a result, the dimensions, power consumption and mass of gyrocompass were reduced. The number of inter board connections was reduced too, which facilitates the assembly process of product and increases its reliability. In near future, it is planned to improve accuracy of primary sensors, thus, promising system can increase accuracy of solving navigation problems up to three times.

Innovation Potential of the Non-Faraday Polarization Twisting of Photon Echoes on Special Exciton States in Thin Textured Films

The advantages of thin textured films over other resonant media that allow detection of the effect produced by the non-Faraday polarization twisting of photon echoes at room temperature are demonstrated. The possibility is discussed of using this effect to record record-short femtosecond time intervals, and for optical processors operating with quaternion algebra in order to effectively solve navigation problems in both aviation and medicine.

The many routes of mental navigation: contrasting the effects of a detailed and gist retrieval approach on using and forming spatial representations.

Navigated routes can be recalled by remembering a schematic layout or with additional sensory and perceptual details, engaging episodic memory processes. In this study, we contrasted the effects of these remembering approaches on retrieving real-world navigated routes, the impact on flexibly using familiar route information and on learning new spatial representations. In a within-subjects design, participants were oriented to recall familiar routes under two remembering conditions-a detail condition that promoted episodic memory processes and a gist condition in which routes were recalled via schematic processes. In each condition, participants performed two subsequent navigation tasks. They first described solutions to navigation problems that involved the recalled familiar route (e.g., navigating around a road block or to a new destination) andthen learned and recalled a route within a novel spatial environment. All navigation descriptions were scored for the number of spatial references, entities, and sensory descriptions. We report the following findings.First, when describing the familiar routes, more details were generated in the detail condition, but a higher proportion of these details were spatial references in the gist condition. Route descriptions in the gist condition also relied more on egocentric spatial representations than in the detail condition. Next, when solving navigation problems in the familiar environment, solution routes were described with more details in the detail condition and deviated less from the familiar route than in the gist condition. Finally, the detail condition led to the preferential encoding of entity and sensory descriptive details of new spatial representations. These findings suggest that activating episodic processes at retrieval has distinct effects on how familiar information can be flexibly used and how new spatial representations are formed.

The Use of Inter-Satellite Measurement for Precise Estimation of the Navigation Object Parameters

We consider the problem of determining errors of mutual synchronization of satellite clocks in navigation constellations. We determine errors in receivers and transmitters of these satellites. We show how to use object parameters to compensate for these errors, provide more accurate coordinates of navigation satellites and increase the accuracy of solving navigation problems.