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Autonomous platforms operating in the oceans require accurate navigation to successfully complete their mission. In this regard, the initial heading estimation accuracy and the time required to achieve it play a critical role. The initial…
An algorithm to estimate motion from satellite imagery is presented. Dense displacement fields are computed from time-separated images of of significant convective activity using a Bayesian formulation of the motion estimation problem.…
Contemporary autopilot systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are far more limited in their flight envelope as compared to experienced human pilots, thereby restricting the conditions UAVs can operate in and the types of missions they…
This paper presents an adaptive observer-based navigation strategy for spacecraft in Circular Relative Orbit (CRO) scenarios, addressing challenges in proximity operations like formation flight and uncooperative target inspection. The…
Flies that walk in a covered planar arena on straight paths avoid colliding with each other, but which of the two flies stops is not random. High-throughput video observations, coupled with dedicated experiments with controlled robot flies…
This paper studies the bearing-based simultaneous localization and affine formation tracking (SLAFT) control problem for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In the considered problem, only a small set of UAVs, named leaders, can…
A Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft is capable of short/vertical takeoffs and landings, thus eliminating the requirement of long runways. This feature makes them suitable for a broader variety of missions, generally not…
Hovering insects are limited by their physiology and need to rotate their wings at the end of each back and forth motion to keep the wing's leading edge ahead of its trailing edge. The wing rotation at the end of each half-stroke pushes the…
Attitude control of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a difficult control problem in part due to uncertain nonlinear dynamics, actuator constraints, and coupled longitudinal and lateral motions. Current state-of-the-art…
LiDAR-based SLAM is recognized as one effective method to offer localization guidance in rough environments. However, off-the-shelf LiDAR-based SLAM methods suffer from significant pose estimation drifts, particularly components relevant to…
The control of a tail-sitter aircraft is a challenging task, especially during transition maneuver where the lift and drag forces are highly nonlinear. In this work, we implement a Neural Network (NN) capable of estimate such…
Drone-based rapid and accurate environmental edge detection is highly advantageous for tasks such as disaster relief and autonomous navigation. Current methods, using radars or cameras, raise deployment costs and burden lightweight drones…
Monocular optical flow has been widely used to detect obstacles in Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) during visual navigation. However, this approach requires significant movement, which reduces the efficiency of navigation and may even introduce…
This study presents autonomous guidance and control strategies for the purpose of reconfiguring close-range multi-satellite formations. The formation under consideration includes $N$ under-actuated deputy satellites and an uncontrolled…
Monocular Visual Odometry (MVO) provides a cost-effective, real-time positioning solution for autonomous vehicles. However, MVO systems face the common issue of lacking inherent scale information from monocular cameras. Traditional methods…
This paper describes an approach to building a cost-effective and research grade visual-inertial odometry aided vertical taking-off and landing (VTOL) platform. We utilize an off-the-shelf visual-inertial sensor, an onboard computer, and a…
Most autonomous navigation systems assume wheeled robots are rigid bodies and their 2D planar workspaces can be divided into free spaces and obstacles. However, recent wheeled mobility research, showing that wheeled platforms have the…
Positioning with one inertial measurement unit and one ranging sensor is commonly thought to be feasible only when trajectories are in certain patterns ensuring observability. For this reason, to pursue observable patterns, it is required…
Fully re-orientable small spacecraft are now supported by commercial technologies, allowing them to point their instruments in any direction and capture images, with short notice. When combined with improved onboard processing, and…
Reaction force-aware control is essential for legged climbing robots to ensure a safer and more stable operation. This becomes particularly crucial when navigating steep terrain or operating in microgravity environments, where excessive…