Mission Performance Evaluation of Low-speed Small Unmanned Aerial Systems using Virtual Range and Stereo Camera Sensors

摘要

Current trends in miniaturization and the requirements of commercialization arc resulting in an increased focus on small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUASs). However, conceptual design and mission performance of these sUASs remains a costly endeavor requiring multiple iterations. In this paper, a virtual reality framework is used to assess the mission performance of a representative quadrotor. The mission profile considers waypoint navigation through a cluttered forest environment simulated using the MORSE-Blender platform. The performance assessment is carried out for three different range and three different stereo camera sensors with varying specifications. The flight time, power usage, and rate of virtual collisions are recorded during a Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the mission performance. Hypotheses pertaining to the trade-offs between sensor specifications, mission flight time, distance traveled, collision likelihood, and mission completion are also examined. Results indicate that range sensors are more capable of avoiding obstacles and that two of the three range sensor configurations in the simulations traveled significantly farther than the remaining sensors.