Abstract
This paper investigates and demonstrates the potential for very long endurance autonomous aerial sensing and mapping applications with AtlantikSolar, a small-sized, hand-launchable, solar-powered fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle. The platform design as well as the on-board state estimation, control and path-planning algorithms are overviewed. A versatile sensor payload integrating a multi-camera sensing system, extended on-board processing and high-bandwidth communication with the ground is developed. Extensive field experiments are provided including publicly demonstrated field-trials for search-and-rescue applications and long-term mapping applications. An endurance analysis shows that AtlantikSolar can provide full-daylight operation and a minimum flight endurance of 8 h throughout the whole year with its full multi-camera mapping payload. An open dataset with both raw and processed data is released and accompanies this paper contribution.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the European Commission projects ICARUS (#285417) and SHERPA (#600958) under the 7th Framework Programme. Further information at http://www.atlantiksolar.ethz.ch/.
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Oettershagen, P. et al. (2016). Long-Endurance Sensing and Mapping Using a Hand-Launchable Solar-Powered UAV. In: Wettergreen, D., Barfoot, T. (eds) Field and Service Robotics. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 113. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27702-8_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27702-8_29
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