UAV activities at

Center for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems Department of Engineering Cybernetics NTNU

Prof. Tor Arne Johansen In collaboration with Profs. Thor I. Fossen and Lars Imsland

Outline
The Center for Autonomous Marine Oprations and Systems Our UAV research visions and strategy Our UAV platforms Current UAV-related research topics

Center for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems

Knowledge fields & research methods

Hydrodynamics and Structural Mechanics

Guidance, Navigation and Control

Experiments

AMOS
Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems Greener operations Autonomous surveillance

Interdisciplinary research areas & challenges

Offshore renewable energy Oil & gas in deeper water

. and in Arctic areas

Open water biological production

Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems (AMOS)

NTNU

Statoil
Engineering Science and Technology

DNV

SINTEF

Department of Marine Technology

MARINTEK SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture SINTEF ICT

AMOS
Department of Engineering Cybernetics

Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering

Bridging the gap between fundamental research, applications and innovation

Values created by AMOS
Setting agenda for research, education and innovations on important national areas Enabling research cooperation between NTNU, SINTEF Group, Statoil, DNV, national and international partners Provide top qualified 150-250 MSc and 60100 PhD candidates for industry and academia Publications in internationally leading journals and conferences Dissemination and knowledge transfer to industry through candidates, research institutes, and direct collaboration Accelerate innovations and spin-offs from NTNU and partners

International Collaborators
Denmark Technical University, Denmark Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands University of Linkping, Sweden Instituto Superior Tcnico, Portugal University of Porto, Portugal CNR-INSEAN, Italy University of California Berkeley, USA Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA University of Newcastle, Australia National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Ukraine Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, USA University of Delaware, USA

National Collaborators, UAV related

Maritime Robotics AS NORUT Troms Discussions with several others as well

One of the main AMOS visions Coordinated highly autonomous marine operations involving UAS together with marine surface and underwater assets

Environmental monitoring, oil spill response, inspection of fisheries, ice monitoring, search and rescue, science and climate research, situation awareness, communication relaying, survey, ship traffic monitoring, inspection of fish farms, offshore wind parks and other assets.

Our overall UAV Research strategy UAV Platform -> Data > Information -> Decision -> Action
Open architectures research platform and in-house system Integrated operations integration capability!

Applications
System and payload
UAV platform

Decision support Model-based data analysis Situation awareness Simultaneous operations

System integration, remote sensing, manipulation Real-time processing and sensor fusion Cooperative control and networking Sensor-based guidance and navigation

Fault tolerance Anti-icing Autonomous marine launch and recovery Navigation Communication Flight control Detect and avoid, transponders Airframe Power and propulsion

Our UAV platforms (Operating licence from CAA / Luftfartstilsynet pending)

Microdrone quad-copter 3DRobotics hexa-copter w/Ardupilot

Skywalker X8 w/Ardupilot

UAV Factory Penguin B w/ Piccolo SL

Five focused main research areas

Smart UAV remote sensing payloads - Autonomous detection and tracking of objects and features Robotic UAV payloads - Deployment, recovery and insitu data acquistion with UAV from ground/floating sensor nodes Multi-vehicle networking Fault-tolerant and robust UAV navigation Enabling ship-based UAV operations in remote and harsh conditions
In addition there are several other UAV-related activities.

Smart Payloads Autonomous Detection and Tracking of Objects and Features

Want to reduce the need for high-capacity payload datalink and ground analysis by onboard intelligence and autonomy Real-time onboard machine vision Sensor-based autonomy Mission planning for search based on optimization Distributed features such as oil spills and sea ice System integration

Robotic Payloads Deployment, recovery and in-situ data acquistion with UAV from ground/floating sensor nodes
Modular and smart floating sensor nodes Multi-rotor UAV payloads for autonomous field deployment and recovery of small objects Fixed-wing UAV payloads for field deployment and recovery of small objects Data acquisition with UAVs

Multi-vehicle Networking
System integration with DUNE/NEPTUS middleware Inter-operability with aerial, surface and underwater sensor systems and vehicles Delay-tolerant and ad.hoc. networking (radio and acoustic)

Fault-tolerant and robust UAV navigation

Want to provide accurate, redundant and robust low-cost global navigation solutions, e.g. when GPS and compass fails:
Automatic airspeed sensor fault detection and diagnosis Camera-based odometry and optical flow as an alternative to magnetometer Camera-based terrain/landmark navigation MEMS-based inertial navigation for navigation aiding and dead reckoning Standalone Integrated with mathematical vehicle model Integrated with camera-based systems Integrated with RTK/DGPS Other combinations

Accurate and reliable local navigation for precision tasks camera, inertial, laser/LIDAR, radar, RTK/DGPS (moving baseline) for autonomous launch/recovery, tracking, docking, pick-up and delivery

Enabling ship-based UAV operations in remote and harsh conditions

Launch and recovery of fixed-wing UAVs from moving ships Low-cost autonomous ship-based net recovery systems for fixedwing UAVs based on RTK/DPGS and local navigation Low-speed recovery of UAVs with moving ship rendevouz Integration with ship systems (e.g. AIS and ship radar for airspace monitoring) Small UAV inflight anti-icing systems Fault-detection and identification for early warning; identification of icing (versus faults related to airspeed sensor, engine/fuel system, servos, etc.) Inflight anti-icing based on conductive coating (electric power); smart power control system design Fault-tolerant flight control in degraded conditions Long-distance radio communication and networking

Concluding remarks
Our strategies and objectives are defined on a More than 10 year perspective
Build world-leading fundamental knowledge to extend academic state-of-the-art; results will in most cases be open and published Close collaboration with industry Participate in technology demonstrators and challenging pilot projects with end users Educate engineers and researchers to enchance capacity and innovation in Norway

UAV activity at NTNU has been on a modest level for some years, we are now boosting our activities in this area
National and international partnerships and collaboration with strong groups Investment into infrastructure, equipment and own operational capacity Focus on research platform with open architectures that allows own system integration and extentions on top of state-of-the-art systems Currently about 15 researchers and 20 master students working more or less full time in this UAV activity at NTNU New projects and collaborations will be established, also beyond maritime/offshore