Related papers: Ultralight Solar Powered Hybrid Research Drone

Solar and heliospheric cosmic rays provide a unique perspective in cosmic ray research: we can observe not only the particles, but also the properties of the plasmas in which the they are accelerated and propagate, using in situ and…

Drones have shown to be useful aerial vehicles for unmanned transport missions such as food and medical supply delivery. This can be leveraged to deliver life-saving nutrition and medicine for people in emergency situations. However,…

Aircraft that can launch ballistically and convert to autonomous, free flying drones have applications in many areas such as emergency response, defense, and space exploration, where they can gather critical situational data using onboard…

The usage of drones and rovers helps to overcome the limitations of traditional agriculture which has been predominantly human-intensive, for carrying out tasks such as removal of weeds and spraying of fertilizers and pesticides. Drones and…

We present the dynamic model and control of DoubleBee, a novel hybrid aerial-ground vehicle consisting of two propellers mounted on tilting servo motors and two motor-driven wheels. DoubleBee exploits the high energy efficiency of a…

The Virtual Observatory has reached sufficient maturity for its routine scientific exploitation by astronomers. To prove this statement, here I present a brief description of the complete VO-powered PhD thesis entitled "Galactic and…

In this article, a floating robotic emulation platform for a virtual demonstration of satellite motion in space is presented. The robotic platform design is characterized by its friction-less, levitating, yet planar motion over a…

As the space domain becomes increasingly congested, autonomy is proposed as one approach to enable small numbers of human ground operators to manage large constellations of satellites and tackle more complex missions such as on-orbit or…

We propose the concept of a space mission to probe the so called flyby anomaly, an unexpected velocity change experienced by some deep-space probes using earth gravity assists. The key feature of this proposal is the use of GNSS systems to…

This paper presents a review of techniques used for the detection and tracking of UAVs or drones. There are different techniques that depend on collecting measurements of the position, velocity, and image of the UAV and then using them in…

This paper presents a new and innovative design for scaleable space solar power systems based on satellite self-assembly and microwave spatial power combination. Lower system cost of utility-scale space solar power is achieved by…

Landing is a challenging part of autonomous drone flight and a great research opportunity. This PhD proposes to improve on fiducial autonomous landing algorithms by making them more flexible. Further, it leverages its location, Iceland, to…

Two new interplanetary technologies have advanced in the past decade to the point where they may enable exciting, affordable missions that reach further and faster deep into the outer regions of our solar system: (i) small and capable…

In late 2022, ICAO member states adopted a long-term global aspirational goal (LTAG) to achieve net zero carbon emissions from international aviation by 2050. To date however, no economically scalable solution to the aviation…

Micro aerial vehicles are becoming increasingly important in search and rescue operations due to their agility, speed, and ability to access confined spaces or hazardous areas. However, designing lightweight aerial systems presents…

An innovative sort of mobility platform that can both drive and fly is the air-ground robot. The need for an agile flight cannot be satisfied by traditional path planning techniques for air-ground robots. Prior studies had mostly focused on…

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones have witnessed a spectacular surge in applications for military, commercial, and civilian purposes. However, their potential for flight is always limited by the finite power budget of their onboard…

Airborne wind energy is a new renewable technology that promises to deliver electricity at low costs and in large quantities. Despite the steadily growing interest in this field, very limited results with real-world data have been reported…

The design of a prototype to carry out take-off and flight tests with tethered aircrafts is presented. The system features a ground station equipped with a winch and a linear motion system. The motion of these two components is regulated by…

An aerial vehicle powered by flapping feathered wings was designed, developed and fabricated. Different from legacy flapping-wing aerial vehicles with membrane wings, the new design uses authentic bird feathers to fabricate wings. In field…