Search and Rescue UAV

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Search and Rescue UAV

Maziar Arjomandi

Nayan Uday Avalakki, Jonathan Bannister, Benjamin John J. Chartier, Travis Mark Downie, Brad Alexander A. Gibson,

Crystal Rhiannon Gottwald, Peter Ian Moncrieff and Michael Scott Williams

(Commenced: 01-Jan-2007,Concluded: 12-Dec-2007)

Maziar Arjomandi

Nayan Uday Avalakki

Jonathan Bannister

Benjamin John J. Chartier

Travis Mark Downie

Brad Alexander A. Gibson

Crystal Rhiannon Gottwald

Peter Ian Moncrieff

Michael Scott Williams

The Search and Rescue Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was designed, developed and manufactured by a group of eight undergraduate engineering students from the School of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Adelaide. With backgrounds in Aerospace and Mechatronic disciplines, the students aimed to develop an autonomous UAV platform, with ground based control and surveillance capabilities. Dubbed ’UAV iSOAR’ (UAV for intelligent Surveillance for Outback Aerial Rescue) the design was driven towards a search and rescue mission profile, with ultimate testing of the effectiveness of the platform to be conducted at the inaugural Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA) 2007 UAV Outback Challenge – Search and Rescue event.

The conceptual design of the airframe was derived using a classical approach, based on an extensive feasibility and statistical analysis of the global UAV industry. Driven by controllability and stability requirements, the airframe is of a conventional configuration, with a high wing, electric propulsion system, proprietary control system, and internal and external payload carrying capabilities.

The aircraft is primarily constructed from composite materials with removable wings, undercarriage and hatches, allowing access to internal components and easy transportation. The use of an electric propulsion system allowed for a reduction in the complexity of the dynamics of the aircraft, as well as development time of the prototype. The use of a brushless electric motor, and lithium-polymer battery technology, was designed to provide the UAV with a cruise speed of 90km/hr and an endurance in excess of 60 minutes, as dictated by the mission requirements. The Micropilot 2028g proprietary autopilot system was integrated into the airframe to provide straight and level autonomous flight. The system had the scope to automate the vehicle in all regimes of flight, however integration problems resulted in this not being achieved by the project. During in-flight tuning of the system, interference between the autopilot communication link and RC receiver resulted in a crash, and a shift in the focus of work within the project towards resolving this interference problem.

The internal payload of the aircraft consists of an analogue video camera, with 450TV lines of resolution, and a field of view of 90 degrees. This camera was successfully used to stream live video footage to a ground station, providing the necessary information for successful surveillance missions. An externally mounted payload system was designed and located on the aircraft’s undercarriage.

Through the use of two servo motors, the system successfully deployed a 600mL bottle of water, and thus demonstrated the capability of the aircraft in deploying mission specific payloads to designated targets.

The primary goals of this project were ambitious given the sequential order in which each goal needed to be accomplished. However, the resourcefulness of the group meant that these goals were able to be realised in full, even when unforseen problems arose. Several extended goals were also specified, and these were particularly ambitious. All of these goals were partially achieved, and the work completed by the project thus far provides a solid base for future work in the development of a fully autonomous UAV system.

This project was proudly sponsored by: