Autonomous Hovering of a Fixed-Wing Micro Air Vehicle.pdfVIP

Autonomous Hovering of a Fixed-Wing Micro Air Vehicle William E. Green and Paul Y. Oh? Drexel Autonomous Systems Lab Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA [william.e.green,paul.yu.oh]@ Abstract Recently, there is a need to acquire intelligence in hos- tile or dangerous environments such as caves, forests, or urban areas. Rather than risking human life, back- packable, bird-sized aircraft, equipped with a wireless camera, can be rapidly deployed to gather reconnais- sance in such environments. However, they first must be designed to fly in tight, cluttered terrain. This pa- per discusses an additional flight modality for a fixed- wing aircraft, enabling it to supplement existing en- durance superiority with hovering capabilities. An in- ertial measurement sensor and an onboard processing and control unit, used to achieve autonomous hover- ing, are also described. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first documented success of hovering a fixed-wing Micro Air Vehicle autonomously. 1 Introduction More often, homeland security, search-and-rescue, and disaster mitigation efforts have taken place in un- foreseen environments which include caves, tunnels, forests, cities, and even inside urban structures. Per- forming various tasks, such as surveillance, reconnais- sance, bomb damage assessment, or evacuating the in- jured within an unfamiliar territory is dangerous and also requires a large, diverse task force. However, un- manned robotic vehicles could assist in such missions by providing situational awareness without risking the lives of soldiers, first responders or other personnel [6] [2]. Backpackable, bird-sized aircraft or Micro Air Ve- hicles (MAVs) can be rapidly deployed to provide an “over-the-hill” or “around-the-corner” perspective ?This material is based upon work supported by the Na- tional Science Foundation under Grant No. 0347430. Any opin- ions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do