AUTONOMOUS UNMANNED GROUND-AERIAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM FOR AREAS WITH AN UNDERDEVELOPED SECURITY INFRASTRUSTURE

1 online resource (78 pages) : PDF

2018

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Events held in areas without a well-developed security infrastructure, such as the Tour de France and temporary military bases, can be difficult to secure and survey. In these situations, an unmanned aerial system (UAS) can prove useful to get surveillance in the air and around objects. These systems have become readily available and can be adapted for many uses, despite having a limited runtime. Other works have developed systems providing power through a tether system and fixed position landing platforms for recharging the UAS; however, both solutions limit mobility of the UAS. This paper details an alternative solution by combining a UAS with a mobile unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) containing a landing platform for recharging the UAS. This results in a flexible autonomous surveillance system that enhances the limited flight time of traditional UAS systems. For testing, the system was set to travel to and survey a given GPS location before returning to its initial location with fully autonomous operation. Ultimately, the system traveled to and surveyed the location as desired. Upon return, the UAS targeted and descended to the landing platform. Due to the inaccuracy of the GPS unit used in the prototype, the UAS was only able to land onto the approximately half the time. Once the UAS landed, the entire system could either return to its original location or advance to its next waypoint. Analysis of results show an IMU (inertial measurement unit) sensor and more accurate GPS location would be needed to make the system reliable.

masters theses

Engineering

M.S.

Autonomous
UAS
UGV

Engineering

Browne, Aidan

Williams, Wesley
Noras, Maciej

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2018.

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Padgett_uncc_0694N_11810

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:486