UAV activities at

Center for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems

Department of Engineering Cybernetics

NTNU

Prof. Tor Arne Johansen

In collaboration with Profs. Thor I. Fossen and Lars Imsland

Outline • The Center for Autonomous Marine Oprations and Systems

• Our UAV research visions and strategy

• Our UAV platforms

• Current UAV-related research topics

Greener operations

Offshore renewable energy

Autonomous surveillance

Oil & gas in deeper water…

…. and in Arctic areas

Centre for Autonomous Marine

Operations and Systems

Hydrodynamics and Structural Mechanics

Guidance, Navigation and Control

Experiments

Knowledge fields & research methods

Interdisciplinary research areas &

challenges

AMOS

Center for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems

Open water biological production

Department of Marine Technology

NTNU

Engineering Science and Technology

Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems (AMOS)

Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering

Department of Engineering Cybernetics

SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture

SINTEF ICT

Statoil DNV

AMOS

MARINTEK

SINTEF

Values created by AMOS • Setting agenda for research, education and

innovations on important national areas

• Enabling research cooperation between

NTNU, SINTEF Group, Statoil, DNV,

national and international partners

• Provide top qualified 150-250 MSc and 60-

100 PhD candidates for industry and

academia

• Publications in internationally leading

journals and conferences

• Dissemination and knowledge transfer to

industry through candidates, research

institutes, and direct collaboration

• Accelerate innovations and spin-offs from

NTNU and partners

Bridging the gap between fundamental research, applications and innovation

International Collaborators

• Denmark Technical University, Denmark • Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands • University of Linköping, Sweden • Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal • University of Porto, Portugal • CNR-INSEAN, Italy • University of California Berkeley, USA • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA • University of Newcastle, Australia • National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Ukraine • Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, USA • University of Delaware, USA

National Collaborators, UAV related • Maritime Robotics AS • NORUT Tromsø • Discussions with several others as well

One of the main AMOS visions Coordinated highly autonomous marine operations involving UAS

together with marine surface and underwater assets

Environmental monitoring, oil spill response, inspection of fisheries, ice monitoring, search and rescue, science and climate research, situation awareness, communication relaying, survey, ship traffic monitoring, inspection of fish farms, offshore wind parks and other assets.

UAV Platform -> Data –> Information -> Decision -> Action

Applications System and

payload UAV

platform

Integrated operations Decision support Model-based data analysis Situation awareness Simultaneous operations

System integration, remote sensing, manipulation Real-time processing and sensor fusion Cooperative control and networking Sensor-based guidance and navigation

Fault tolerance Anti-icing Autonomous marine launch and recovery Navigation Communication Flight control Detect and avoid, transponders Airframe Power and propulsion

Our overall UAV Research strategy

Open architectures research platform and

in-house system integration capability!

Our UAV platforms (Operating licence from CAA / Luftfartstilsynet pending)

Skywalker X8 w/Ardupilot

UAV Factory Penguin B w/ Piccolo SL

3DRobotics hexa-copter w/Ardupilot Microdrone quad-copter

Five focused main research areas • Smart UAV remote sensing payloads - Autonomous

detection and tracking of objects and features • Robotic UAV payloads - Deployment, recovery and in-

situ data acquistion with UAV from ground/floating sensor nodes

• Multi-vehicle networking • Fault-tolerant and robust UAV navigation • Enabling ship-based UAV operations in remote and

harsh conditions

In addition there are several other UAV-related activities.

Smart Payloads - Autonomous Detection and Tracking of

Objects and Features

Want to reduce the need for high-capacity payload datalink and ground analysis by onboard intelligence and autonomy • Real-time onboard machine vision • Sensor-based autonomy • Mission planning for search based on

optimization • Distributed features such as oil spills and sea ice • System integration

Robotic Payloads - Deployment, recovery and in-situ data acquistion with UAV

from ground/floating sensor nodes

• Modular and smart floating sensor nodes • Multi-rotor UAV payloads for autonomous field deployment and

recovery of small objects • Fixed-wing UAV payloads for field deployment and recovery of

small objects • Data acquisition with UAVs

Multi-vehicle Networking • System integration with DUNE/NEPTUS middleware

• Inter-operability with aerial, surface and underwater sensor systems and vehicles

• Delay-tolerant and ad.hoc. networking (radio and acoustic)

Fault-tolerant and robust UAV navigation

Want to provide accurate, redundant and robust low-cost global navigation solutions, e.g. when GPS and compass fails: • Automatic airspeed sensor fault detection and diagnosis • Camera-based odometry and optical flow as an alternative to magnetometer • Camera-based terrain/landmark navigation • MEMS-based inertial navigation for navigation aiding and dead reckoning

• Standalone • Integrated with mathematical vehicle model • Integrated with camera-based systems • Integrated with RTK/DGPS • Other combinations

Accurate and reliable local navigation for precision tasks • camera, inertial, laser/LIDAR, radar, RTK/DGPS (moving baseline) for autonomous

launch/recovery, tracking, docking, pick-up and delivery

Enabling ship-based UAV operations in remote and harsh conditions

• Launch and recovery of fixed-wing UAVs from moving ships • Low-cost autonomous ship-based net recovery systems for fixed-

wing UAVs based on RTK/DPGS and local navigation • Low-speed recovery of UAVs with moving ship rendevouz

• Integration with ship systems (e.g. AIS and ship radar for airspace monitoring)

• Small UAV inflight anti-icing systems • Fault-detection and identification for early warning; identification

of icing (versus faults related to airspeed sensor, engine/fuel system, servos, etc.)

• Inflight anti-icing based on conductive coating (electric power); smart power control system design

• Fault-tolerant flight control in degraded conditions • Long-distance radio communication and networking

Concluding remarks

Our strategies and objectives are defined on a «More than 10 year» perspective • Build world-leading fundamental knowledge to extend academic state-of-the-art;

results will in most cases be open and published • Close collaboration with industry • Participate in technology demonstrators and challenging pilot projects with end users • Educate engineers and researchers to enchance capacity and innovation in Norway

UAV activity at NTNU has been on a modest level for some years, we are now boosting our activities in this area • National and international partnerships and collaboration with strong groups • Investment into infrastructure, equipment and own operational capacity • Focus on research platform with open architectures that allows own system

integration and extentions on top of state-of-the-art systems • Currently about 15 researchers and 20 master students working more or less full time

in this UAV activity at NTNU • New projects and collaborations will be established, also beyond maritime/offshore