Related papers: FIRST Explorer -- An innovative low-cost passive f…
The Fast Folding Algorithm (FFA) is a phase-coherent search technique for periodic signals. It has rarely been used in radio pulsar searches, having been historically supplanted by the less computationally expensive Fast Fourier Transform…
Autonomous exploration is one of the important parts to achieve the fast autonomous mapping and target search. However, most of the existing methods are facing low-efficiency problems caused by low-quality trajectory or back-and-forth…
In this paper, we study the problem of formation keeping of a network of strictly passive systems when very coarse information is exchanged. We assume that neighboring agents only know whether their relative position is larger or smaller…
In this work, a set of motion primitives is defined for use in an energy-aware motion planning problem. The motion primitives are defined as sequences of control inputs to a simplified four-DOF dynamics model and are used to replace the…
An effective method for detailed observation of the Solar System planets is the use of vehicles that can perform flight in their atmospheres, with the most promising of them being Flyers (aircraft for other planets atmospheres). Besides the…
Optimal collision-free formation control of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a challenge. The state-of-the-art optimal control approaches often rely on numerical methods sensitive to initial guesses. This paper presents an innovative…
Low-cost autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) have the potential to help humans by simplifying and speeding up complex tasks that require their interaction with the environment, such as construction, package delivery, and search and…
The main motivation of this work is to propose a simulation approach for a specific task within the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) field, i.e., the visual detection and tracking of arbitrary moving objects. In particular, it is described…
Pulsar timing experiments require high fidelity template profiles in order to minimize the biases in pulse time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements and their uncertainties. Efforts to acquire more precise TOAs given fixed effective area of…
This white paper discusses a repurposed mission for the Kepler spacecraft that focusses on solving outstanding problems in planet formation and evolution by targeting the study of the hot Jupiter population of young stars. This mission can…
The goal of planet formation as a field of study is not only to provide the understanding of how planets come into existence. It is also an interdisciplinary bridge which links astronomy to geology and mineralogy. Recent observations of…
I describe a framework for adaptive scientific exploration based on iterating an Observation--Inference--Design cycle that allows adjustment of hypotheses and observing protocols in response to the results of observation on-the-fly, as data…
WFIRST is NASA's first flagship mission with pre-defined core science programs to study dark energy and perform a statistical census of wide orbit exoplanets with a gravitational microlensing survey. Together, these programs are expected to…
This paper tackles the challenging task of maintaining formation among multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) while avoiding both static and dynamic obstacles during directed flight. The complexity of the task arises from its…
It is generally considered that a trustworthy autonomous planetary exploration rover must be able to operate safely and effectively within its environment. Central to trustworthy operation is the ability for the rover to recognise and…
LISA PathFinder (LPF) will be flown with the objective to test in space key technologies for LISA. However its sensitivity goals are, for good reason, one order of magnitude less than those which LISA will have to meet, both in drag-free…
(Abridged) We discuss the design considerations of the EXPLORE (EXtra-solar PLanet Occultation REsearch) project, a series of transiting planet searches using 4-m-class telescopes to continuously monitor a single field of stars in the…
This paper deals with the impulsive formation control of spacecraft in the presence of constraints on the position vector and time. Determining a set of path constraints can increase the safety and reliability in an impulsive relative…
The Monitor project is a photometric monitoring survey of nine young (1-200Myr) clusters in the solar neighbourhood to search for eclipses by very low mass stars and brown dwarfs and for planetary transits in the light curves of cluster…
Optical imaging through scattering media is a fundamental challenge in many applications. Recently, substantial breakthroughs such as imaging through biological tissues and looking around corners have been obtained by the use of…