The AutoSOAR autonomous soaring aircraft,part 1: Autonomy algorithms |
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Authors: | Nathan T Depenbusch John J Bird Jack W Langelaan |
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Affiliation: | Department of Aerospace Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA |
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Abstract: | Autonomous soaring has the potential to greatly improve both the range and endurance of small robotic aircraft. This paper describes an autonomous soaring system that generates a dynamic map of lift sources (thermals) in the environment and uses this map for online flight planning and decision making. Components of the autonomy algorithm include thermal mapping, explore/exploit decision making, navigation, optimal airspeed computation, thermal centering control, and energy state estimation. A finite state machine manages the aircraft behavior during flight and determines when changing behavior is appropriate. A complete system to enable autonomous soaring is described with special attention paid to practical considerations encountered during flight testing. A companion paper describes the hardware implementation of this system and the results of a flight test campaign conducted at Aberdeen Proving Ground in September 2015. |
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Keywords: | aerial robotics bioinspired methods exploration mapping planning |
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