Early Afternoon Concurrent Sessions: Critical Issues: Presentation: Wireless, Inductive, Self-Charging Electric Unmanned Aerial Systems

Abstract

Verbatim from Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons. Not paraphrased, not summarized.

In addition to the well-known military uses of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), numerous civil aviation uses have been developed, including agricultural, search and rescue operations, infrastructure inspection (e.g. pipelines, power lines, bridges), wildlife management, delivering medical supplies to remote regions, police surveillance and aerial film making. Advances in aerial systems, sensors, cameras, microprocessors, and control systems is resulting in the proliferation of UASs and expansion of their utility. The advantages of UASs lie in their low-cost, small size, and their ability to collect a large amount of data from different types of sensors. Despite the success of UASs, their limited flight time remains a major drawback that needs to be addressed. The average flight time is between 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the payload, which is not sufficient for many applications requiring the UAVs to cover large areas and difficult terrains. The focus of the current research is on the power line inspection application. Currently, aerial power line inspections are mostly performed using helicopters that are costly and difficult to maneuver around the transmission lines. Direct inspections are both labor intensive and hazardous to workers due to terrain difficulties and high voltage lines. Recently, some utility companies have started using small UASs for local inspections and short duration operations. In this paper, we discuss the use of UASs in a continuous operation by employing autonomous navigation of the power line and wireless inductive charging capability to the UAS.

Authors

• Austen, Jeffrey Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Belkacemi, Rabie Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Chaoui, Hicham Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Craven, Robert Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Mahajan, Satish Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Motevalli, Vahid Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Keywords

• Aviation
• UAS
• Unmanned Aircraft Systems
• Inductive Charging
• Power Line Inspection
• Drones
• Inductive Technology
• Self-Charging UAS
• Aeronautical Vehicles
• Aerospace Engineering
• Aviation
• Engineering