Dynamics and control of small aerial vehicles in contact with environment and of space webs for debris removal.

与环境接触的小型飞行器以及清除碎片的空间网的动力学和控制。

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-06165
• 负责人: Sharf, Inna
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=638666
• 关键词: Dynamics; control; small; aerial; vehicles

This proposal addresses fundamental problems in dynamics and control in the context of two applications: autonomous operation of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and space debris removal. The research will ultimately benefit the development community and companies building and marketing UAVs. It will also serve to advance technologies for active space debris removal, which is necessary for a continued and sustainable utilization of near-earth orbits for satellite operation and space science. The funding of this grant will lead to training of five highly qualified personnel through their graduate studies and direct participation in the proposed research topics. Small unmanned aerial vehicles have become a research focus of many robotics groups around the world as applications of these systems have been rapidly expanding into civilian domains. UAVs present numerous challenges in the traditional areas of mobile robotics, in particular, systems design, control law development, state estimation, localization and mapping, path planning, obstacle avoidance and coordinated operation of multiple UAVs. In the present proposal, we depart from these conventional topics and investigate, for the first time, the problems of dynamics and control of small rotary vehicles, such as quadrotors, under the conditions of impact with the environment. We are motivated by the fact that operation of UAVs carries with it a significant risk of collision with surrounding objects, particularly indoors and in unknown, unstructured environments. Therefore, to make small UAV systems safer, to expand their autonomy and ultimately achieve their acceptance in the society at large, our goal for this grant is to investigate dynamics modeling and response of an aerial vehicle under impact conditions, and to develop control methodologies to enable a rotary UAV to recover from a collision with its environment. Our second targeted application stems from the applicant’s leading-edge research in the area of space robotics, and specifically, problems associated with autonomous capture of malfunctioning satellites and space debris. The case for on-orbit servicing and space debris remediation is unequivocal at this point and there is little debate on the role and necessity for these missions. Our research to date has lead to innovative solutions to problems of motion planning and control for capture of unknown tumbling targets using a robotic arm mounted on the servicing (“chaser”) satellite. We plan to expand our efforts towards identifying a feasible solution for active removal of large space debris, by investigating the employment of tethered space webs for capture, subsequent stabilization and de-orbiting of the debris. The space webs (also called tethered nets) concept has been investigated by only a few researchers to date. To our knowledge, there are no comprehensive modeling tools which can be used for a sufficiently accurate, yet computationally practical simulation of the complete debris removal scenario. This would require analysis and modeling of all phases of the mission, starting from tether-net deployment, through impact and ensuing contact between the net and the target, and ending with transporting the debris to a graveyard or lower orbit. Among the aforementioned phases, the impact between the net and the target and subsequent enclosure and stabilization of the target represent the most challenging and least researched problems in dynamics modeling and control of debris capture with a space web. This will be the main area of our investigation on space debris removal in the context of the present grant. Both topics to be considered build on the applicant's prior research and expertise in contact mechanics and dynamics modelling.

该提案解决了两种应用程序的动态和控制方面的基本问题：小型无人机（UAV）的自主操作和拆除太空碎片。这项研究最终将使开发社区和公司建立和营销无人机受益。它还将有助于促进清除空间碎片的技术，这对于持续且可持续的利用近地轨道进行卫星运行和太空科学是必不可少的。这笔赠款的资金将通过他们的研究生学习并直接参与拟议的研究主题来培训五名高素质的人员。由于这些系统的应用已迅速扩展到平民领域，因此无人驾驶飞机已经成为世界上许多机器人群体的研究重点。无人机在移动机器人技术的传统领域中提出了许多挑战，尤其是系统设计，控制法律开发，州估计，本地化和映射，路径规划，避免障碍和多个无人机的协调操作。在本提案中，我们将这些常规主题销毁，并首次调查小型旋转车辆的动态和控制问题，例如四极管，在对环境的影响条件下。我们的动机是，无人机的操作与周围物体（尤其是在室内和未知的非结构化环境中）发生碰撞的重大风险。因此，为了使小型无人机系统更安全，扩大其自主权并最终在整个社会中获得接受，我们的目标是研究在影响条件下飞行器的动态建模和反应，并开发控制方法以使旋转无人机从与环境的碰撞中恢复。我们从申请人在太空机器人领域的领先研究中进行的第二个针对性应用程序，特别是与自主捕获卫星和太空碎片的自主捕获有关的问题。在这一点上，轨道上的维修和空间碎片修复的情况是明确的，并且关于这些任务的作用和必要的辩论很少。迄今为止，我们的研究为运动计划和控制问题提供了创新的解决方案，以使用安装在维修（“ Chaser”）卫星上的机器人手臂捕获未知的翻滚目标。我们计划通过调查绑扎空间网的使用以捕获，随后的稳定和去除碎片的途径，扩大我们的努力，以确定可行的解决方案，以积极清除大型空间碎片。迄今为止，只有少数研究人员研究了空间网（也称为束缚网）概念。据我们所知，没有全面的建模工具可以用于对完整调试的删除场景进行足够准确但计算上实用的模拟。这将需要对任务的所有阶段进行分析和建模，从系绳网络部署开始，撞击和确保网络与目标之间的接触，并以将碎屑运输到墓地或下轨道结束。在大约术语阶段中，网络与目标之间的影响以及随后的围栏和稳定目标代表了使用空间网络对动态建模和控制碎片捕获的最挑战，最少研究的问题。这将是我们在目前赠款的背景下进行空间碎片删除的主要领域。这两个主题都被认为是基于申请人的先前研究以及联系机械和动态建模的专业知识。