Reconnaissance, surveillance, and search-and-rescue missions in near-Earth environments such as caves, forests, and urban areas pose many new challenges to command and control (C2) teams. Of great significance is how to acquire situational awareness when access to the scene is blocked by enemy fire, rubble, or other occlusions. Small bird-sized aerial robots are expendable and can fly over obstacles and through small openings to assist in the acquisition and distribution of intelligence. However, limited flying space and densely populated obstacle fields requires a vehicle that is capable of hovering, but also maneuverable. A secondary flight mode was incorporated into a fixed-wing aircraft to preserve its maneuverability while adding the capability of hovering. With an inertial measurement sensor and onboard flight control system, the authors were able to transition from cruise to hover flight and sustain a hover autonomously. Furthermore, the hovering flight mode can be used to maneuver the aircraft through small openings such as door- ways. Fusing ultrasonic and infrared sensing, the aircraft can detect doorways and implement reactive path planning to traverse them. Entering a dangerous environment to gather intelligence autonomously is the ultimate goal of this research and will provide an invaluable resource to any C2 team.
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