Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Ground Control Research Articles

Optimization of power system for UAV ground control station in Natuna Island

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is controlled remotely by the operator at the Ground Control Station (GCS) during the mission. Reliable electrical energy is needed to supply energy needs in GCS, such as radio communications, workstations, weather stations, HVAC systems, and lamps when the UAV is operating. GCS is located in Ranai City, Natuna Islands. The UAV mission in Ranai can assist the military in monitoring border surveillance, disaster management, and mapping the area. GCS power source in the initial design, using a diesel generator as the main power source with a power of 12 kW for 192.3 kWh per day energy consumption and 10.8 kW load peak. This paper has shown the study on a hybrid system with 3 scenarios, consisting of a PV system, wind turbine, generator, and battery. The system is simulated by using HOMER for accounting the technical and economic aspects. The results showed that the NPC and LCOE of the third scenario, which consisted of PV/wind/battery, were $181,157.38 and $0.15 per kWh, respectively. It has the lowest cost compared to the first scenario with the usage of diesel generator only. The average fuel consumption is 7.97 litre per day, down 87% compared to the existing condition. Thus, this configuration can overcome the costs of delivering fuel supplies for GCS operations and complement the government’s efforts to achieve emission reduction targets.

Horizontal Polarized DC Grounded Omnidirectional Antenna for UAV Ground Control Station.

A new slot-based antenna design capable of producing horizontal polarization for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ground control station (GCS) applications is outlined in this paper. The proposed antenna consists of oversize coaxial cylinders, slots, and slot-feed assembly. Each of the four vertical slots, arranged periodically around the antenna’s outer cylinder, emits a horizontally polarized broad beam of radiation, in phase, to produce an omnidirectional pattern. The antenna possesses a low-ripple ±0.5 dB in azimuth gain (yaw) due to its symmetric axis shape and an enclosed feed within itself, which does not radiate and interfere with the main azimuth pattern. This is crucial for a UAV GCS to symmetrically extend its coverage range in all directions against yaw planes. Simulation and measurement results reveal that the antenna maintains stable gain in the omnidirectional pattern (+0.5 dB) over the entire operational frequency band (2.55 GHz to 2.80 GHz), where S11 is lower than −10 dB. A further advantage of this configuration is its enhanced polarization purity of −40 dB over the full frequency band. The direct-current (DC) grounding approach used in this antenna is beneficial due to its electrostatic discharge (ESD) and lightning protection. Furthermore, its aerodynamic, self-supporting, and surface-mount structural shape makes this antenna a good and worthy choice for a UAV GCS.

Joint Resource Allocation and UAV Scheduling With Ground Radio Station Sleeping

Applications of Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have advanced rapidly in recent years. The UAVs are used for a variety of applications, including surveillance, disaster management, precision agriculture, weather forecasting, etc. In near future, the growing number of UAV applications would necessitate densification of UAV infrastructure (ground radio station (GRS) and ground control station (GCS)) at the expense of increased energy consumption for UAV communications. Maximizing the energy efficiency of this UAV infrastructure is important. Motivated by this, we propose joint resource allocation and UAV scheduling with GRS sleeping. Further, we propose the use of coordinated multi-point (CoMP) with joint transmission (JT) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) along with GRS sleeping to increase the coverage and data rates, respectively. We then present exhaustive simulation results showcasing the trade-off between throughput and energy efficiency with varying UAV densities. We also compare the coverage, throughput, and energy efficiency for NOMA, CoMP with JT and the benchmark scenario.

GNSS jamming detection of UAV ground control station using random matrix theory

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are the main navigation and control systems in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their ground control stations. Without the GNSS signals, the UAV and its ground control stations cannot follow the waypoints of the desired path in jamming environments. In this paper, two new methods for detection of GNSS signal jamming attack for UAV ground control station are proposed based on random matrix theory. By using limiting distribution of mean vector and asymptotic behavior of the defined test statistic, a hypothesis test is introduced and evaluated to detect presence of jamming signal. Simulation results show that the proposed methods have significant performance in terms of detection and false alarm probabilities. Compared to existing methods, at low jamming-to-signal ratio (JSR), more than 2.5 dB improvement is achieved.

Beam-Reconfigurable Multi-Antenna System with Beam-Combining Technology for UAV-to-Everything Communications

This paper proposes a beam-reconfigurable antenna for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with wide beam coverage by applying beam-combining technology to multiple antennas with different beam patterns. The proposed multi-antenna system consists of a circular patch antenna and a low-profile printed meandered monopole antenna. For beam combining, a coplanar waveguide with ground (CPW-G) structure feeding network is proposed, and it consists of two input ports, a 90° hybrid coupler, a microstrip 90° phase delay line, and a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch. It performs the role of power distribution and phase adjustment, and synthesizes the broad-side beam of the monopole antenna and the end-fire beam of the patch antenna to form the directive broadside beams in four different directions. The proposed antenna system operates at 5–5.5 GHz which covers both UAV ground control frequencies (5.03–5.09 GHz) and UAV mission frequencies (5.091–5.150 GHz). The peak gain, total efficiency, and half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of the antenna system are approximately 5.8 dBi, 76%, 145° in the elevation plane, and 360° in the azimuth plane respectively. Its electrical size and weight are λ 0 × λ 0 × 0.21 λ 0 at 5.09 GHz and 19.2 g, respectively.

Unmanned aerial vehicle trajectory data fusion based on an active and passive feedback system

The surveillance data obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle during real-time operation are very important for unmanned aerial vehicle supervision. In this study, in order to obtain more reliable and accurate unmanned aerial vehicle flight paths, we have proposed a trajectory fusion method of unmanned aerial vehicle data based on an active and passive feedback system. The active surveillance data are obtained from automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast and the passive surveillance data are derived from the unmanned aerial vehicle ground control station. The convex combination fusion algorithm is employed to fuse the two sets of data to obtain the accurate flight state and a continuous stable running track for the unmanned aerial vehicle. The simulation results showed that the fusion trajectory obtained using the convex combination fusion algorithm was smoother than the local trajectory obtained by the interacting multiple model algorithm.

Assessment of UAV operator workload in a reconfigurable multi-touch ground control station environment

Multi-touch computer inputs allow users to interact with a virtual environment through the use of gesture commands on a monitor instead of a mouse and keyboard. This style of input is easy for the human mind to adapt to because gestures directly reflect how one interacts with the natural environment. This paper presents and assesses a personal-computer-based unmanned aerial vehicle ground control station that utilizes multi-touch gesture inputs and system reconfigurability to enhance operator performance. The system was developed at Ryerson University’s Mixed-Reality Immersive Motion Simulation Laboratory using commercial-off-the-shelf Presagis software. The ground control station was then evaluated using NASA’s task load index to determine if the inclusion of multi-touch gestures and reconfigurability provided an improvement in operator workload over the more traditional style of mouse and keyboard inputs. To conduct this assessment, participants were tasked with flying a simulated aircraft through a specified number of waypoints, and had to utilize a payload controller within a predetermined area. The task load index results from these flight tests have initially shown that the developed touch-capable ground control station improved operator workload while reducing the impact of all six related human factors.

AUTOMATIC EXTERIOR ORIENTATION PROCEDURE FOR LOW-COST UAV PHOTOGRAMMETRY USING VIDEO IMAGE TRACKING TECHNIQUE AND GPS INFORMATION

Abstract. In this paper, we propose the automatic exterior orientation procedure for the Low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry. The Low-cost UAV has become useful tool for low altitude photogrammetry from the rapidly increasing of automatic control technique in past several years. However, automatic exterior orientation is still important issue. The most important point of automatic exterior orientation is the automatic detection of corresponding points in each still image. For this goal, the authors have developed the automatic corresponding point detection technique using both video Image and still images. The video image of this investigation is obtained with still images simultaneously. Therefore, the tracking result of video image gives robust correspondence information between each still image. Moreover, the exterior orientation procedure using GPS information from UAV and minimum ground control points have been investigated. This paper is structured as follows. At the first we describe the over view of automatic exterior orientation procedure in this investigation. As the next, the details of tracking of common feature points and robust bundle adjustment are described. Also, accuracy assessment of this automatic exterior orientation procedure is described. Finally some conclusion is given.

Multimodal Interface Technologies for UAV Ground Control Stations

This paper examines different technologies that can be applied in the design and development of a ground control station for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with multimodal interfaces. Multimodal technologies employ multiple sensory channels/modalities for information transmission as well as for system control. Examples of these technologies could be haptic feedback, head tracking, auditory information (3D audio), voice control, tactile displays, etc. The applicability and benefits of those technologies is analyzed for a task consisting in the acknowledgement of alerts in an UAV ground control station composed by three screens and managed by a single operator. For this purpose, several experiments were conducted with a group of individuals using different combinations of modal conditions (visual, aural and tactile).

Measuring Speech Flow of Co-Located and Distributed Command and Control Teams During a Communication Channel Glitch

Team cognition can be observed in the flow of communications among team members. This is shown in the context of a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle ground control station. Automatic measures of low-level team communication flow were used to assess high-level constructs of team cognition. Measures show support for the expected results of manipulations in this task. Co-location and channel degradation effects were successfully predicted by CHUMS, ProNet, and a cross-correlation function-based Dominance measure. Results grant concurrent validity to the measures, and highlight substantive effects of the manipulations. In particular, in geographically distributed teams, communication patterns are less stable, and the route planner exerts less communicative influence. Some co-location effects drop with task experience. During a mission containing a five-minute one-way communication channel cut, all teams communicate more like distributed teams, and team members do create alternate pathways to retain information flow.

Evaluation of Tactile Alerts for Control Station Operation

In complex systems, it is difficult to efficiently provide operators with timely and meaningful information. Tactile displays may alleviate visual workload by transmitting information through the skin. This study examined the utility of active tactile alerts versus salient visual and/or auditory alerts in an unmanned aerial vehicle ground control station simulation. Tactor location (right or left arm) and number of factors vibrating (one or two) were used to code three types of alerts. Results showed that tactile stimulation, when presented in concert with visual and auditory alerts, did not aid (or degrade) performance, suggesting they could substitute for auditory alerts when the aural channel is overloaded. Results also indicated that tactile alerts used as the sole cue, compared to a visual alert, improved reaction time which suggests that vibratory stimulation may be an effective non-redundant cue. Further research is warranted to determine how best to apply tactile alerts in control stations to reduce visual and auditory workload.