On-Board Real-Time Trajectory Planning for Fixed Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Extreme Environments.

Area of Science:

• Aerospace Engineering
• Volcanology
• Robotics

Background:

• Fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) require pre-flight mission planning for long-range, high-altitude operations.
• Volcanic monitoring missions, such as those over Volcán de Fuego, face challenges due to significant altitude gains and changing atmospheric conditions.
• Current UAV flight routes cannot be modified mid-flight, limiting adaptability to environmental changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test a real-time trajectory planner (RTTP) for onboard UAV operation.
• To enable dynamic route calculation for long-range, high-altitude flights.
• To enhance the flexibility and efficiency of UAVs used for volcanic monitoring and ash-sampling.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a genetic algorithm-based RTTP on a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ onboard a UAV.
• Conducting four test flights to the summit region of Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala.
• Onboard calculation of new and valid flight trajectories during each mission.

Main Results:

• The RTTP successfully calculated new, valid flight trajectories onboard the UAV during all four test flights.
• The efficiency of RTTP-guided flights was comparable to conventionally planned missions.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of onboard, real-time trajectory planning for UAVs in challenging environments.

Conclusions:

• The developed RTTP is a novel onboard system for UAVs, marking a first for this application.
• This technology shows significant promise for improving long-range UAV operations, particularly in volcanic monitoring.
• Future developments are expected to yield substantial energy and efficiency gains for UAV missions.