Exploring the Effect of Obscurants on Safe Landing Zone Identification

Manned rotorcraft are often employed in harsh environments and difficult terrain that are inaccessible to other craft. Conversely, robotic rotorcraft are operated in controlled settings, often at safe, high altitudes. Missions such as cargo delivery, medevac and fire fighting are unachievable becaus...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of intelligent & robotic systems Vol. 57; no. 1-4; pp. 281 - 295
Main Authors: Sevcik, Keith W., Kuntz, Noah, Oh, Paul Y.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.01.2010
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Algorithms
Artificial Intelligence
Control
Electrical Engineering
Engineering
Field tests
High altitude
Landing
Laser range finders
Mechanical Engineering
Mechatronics
Methodology
Missions
Robotics
Rotary wing aircraft
Rotorcraft
Sensors
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Verifying performance
Evaluating guidance algorithms
Navigation and control
ISSN:0921-0296, 1573-0409
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Manned rotorcraft are often employed in harsh environments and difficult terrain that are inaccessible to other craft. Conversely, robotic rotorcraft are operated in controlled settings, often at safe, high altitudes. Missions such as cargo delivery, medevac and fire fighting are unachievable because of unpredictable adverse environmental conditions. To enable UAVs to perform these missions, the effects of obscurants on UAV sensor suites and algorithms must be clearly understood. This paper explores the use of a laser range finder to accomplish landing zone identification in unknown, unstructured environments. The ability to detect a landing zone in environments obscured by smoke is investigated. This is accomplished using a design methodology of testing and evaluating in a controlled environment followed by verification and validation in the field. This methodology establishes a concrete understanding of the sensor performance, thereby removing ambiguities in field tests.
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ISSN:0921-0296
1573-0409
DOI:10.1007/s10846-009-9358-2