The future of Unmanned Aircraft System

Based on the article: Science, technology and the future of small autonomous drones (Floreano & Wood,2015)The more the aircraft is miniaturized, the more complex and challenging become its design and its manufacturing to ensure the propulsion and aerodynamic performance. Floreano and Wood recognize challenges, such as "the reduced power density of electromagnetic motors, decreased transmission efficiency owing to the increased dominance of friction from gears and bearings, and greater viscous losses because of reduced Reynolds numbers "  that must be considered at system design level for fixed-wing, rotorcraft or hybrid unmanned aircraft vehicle.
The rotorcraft loses the propulsion performance the smaller the vehicle get; however, the UAV becomes more maneuverable because of a lower Reynolds number while a smaller fixed-wing aircraft will experience a low lift-to-drag ration, say Foreano and Wood (2015).
The manufacturer must also anticipate the challenges relate to the electromagnetic motors that must actuate different aircraft command and control function. Besides the size, weight and power challenges, the review underlines the importance of integrating the UAV in a multi-modal regime.
The community will harvest the full potential and benefit of the unmanned aircraft system  (UAS) if they are integrated with other modes of transportation. The journal notes:
In many situations, such as search and rescue, parcel delivery in confined spaces and environmental monitoring, it may be advantageous to combine aerial and terrestrial capabilities. The different speed and torque requirements of these two locomotion modes could be reconciled by adapting the wing morphology to the specific situation, similar to the way vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) use their powerful front limbs when flying or walking. Alternatively, multi-modal locomotion could be obtained by adding large wheels to the sides of hovering drones, by embedding the propulsion system in a rolling cage, or by completely decoupling the spherical cage from the inner rotors by means of a gimbal system (Foreano & Wood, 2015). The level of UAV autonomy produced by the artificial intelligence has become the future of next drones.
Automation and autonomy are the concepts that govern the new generation UAV, The Insight Review highlights three levels of increasing; -sensory autonomy that translates  high-level human commands (such as to reach a given altitude, perform circular trajectory, move to global positioning system (GPS) coordinates or maintain position) into combinations of platform-dependent control signals (such as pitch, roll, yaw angles or speed); follow pre-programmed trajectory using GPS waypoints.-Reactive autonomy (requires sensory-motor autonomy): maintain current position or trajectory in the presence of external perturbations, such as wind or electro-mechanical failure; avoid obstacles; maintain a safe or predefined distance from the ground; coordinate with moving objects, including other drones; take off and land.-Cognitive autonomy (requires reactive autonomy): perform simultaneous localization and mapping; resolve conflicting information; plan (for battery recharge for example); recognize objects or persons; learn (Floreano & Wood, 2015).
The last challenges that the unmanned aircraft community faces are the lagging FAA regulations about the integration of the UAV operation in the national airspace (NAS). Folereano and Wood (2015) are confident the legal roadblocks will be lifted in the future and will give way to a reactive form of control autonomy and bio-inspired unmanned aircraft system design.
Barnhart et al. (2012), notes:
Combined with advances in mechanics, structures and materials, and power delivery, the future is anyone’s guess. Some futurists have suggested that we will see a future where artificially intelligent machines are able to repair or replicate themselves, seek their own fuel source, and make decisions that could run counter to their originally intended design. Certainly, we are some distance away yet from that scenario, but if the current pace and direction of progress are taken into account we must consider those possibilities and we must also consider what we term “progress” and what is regressive in nature.

Reference

Floreano, D., & Wood, R. J. (2015). Science, technology and the future of small autonomous drones. Nature, 521(7553), 460-466. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1685003576?accountid=27203
Marshall, D. M., Barnhart, R. K., Hottman, S. B., Shappee, E., & Most, M. T. (Eds.). (2011). Introduction to unmanned aircraft systems. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.comCreated from erau on 2018-10-07 20:07:06.

x