http://www.tagstory.com/video/video_post.aspx?media_id=V000054052
Posted on 05/28/2007 9:05:31 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
SNU Team Startles Engineers With UAV Technology
Last Saturday, a scarlet drone circled in the air, descending to only 5 m above reclaimed land along the west shore of Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. It was the maiden flight of the SNUGL, an unmanned aerial vehicle with a GPS receiver made by Seoul National University research team. Prof. Kee Chang-don and students of SNU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering developed technology which allows unmanned aerial vehicle to take off and land by using only GPS. It took six years, 200 test flights and five crashes to make their dream come true.
On May 10, the research team attended a meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Sonoma, California. Many scientists were surprised when Prof. Kee announced, “We succeeded in starting and landing of unmanned aerial vehicle with only a single GPS receiver without inertial sensors.” Five hundred aerospace engineers and airline staffers looked as if they couldn’t believe it.
Inertial sensors are prohibitively expensive devices to sense information about the UAV’s motions, and it was considered impossible for an aerial vehicle to lift off and land automatically without one. Many experts looked astonished when the research team showed video footage of the UAV’s successful takeoff and landing. Kee’s team did it by developing technology that can calculate the drone’s motion including tilt based on GPS information like location, altitude and speed.
Prof. Kee Chang-don of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in Seoul National University, and his students show SNUGL, the world’s first unmanned aerial vehicle that succeeded in taking off and landing automatically with only GPS sensors to guide it.
◆ 20 test flights, five crashes
The research began in 2001. Kee had been told many times by colleagues that it is impossible for aerial vehicles to lift off and land without inertial sensors. Based on computer simulations, the team thought otherwise, but reality seemed bent on outfoxing them. “If you look at all the scratches on SNUGL, you see how difficult it was to make it fly,” Kee said.
SNUGL has a wingspan of 2.5 m. Over the last six years, the research team tested the drone 200 times and SNUGL came down 20 times. It seriously crashed five times. But whenever it fell down, Kee pumped more of his own money into the research: the vehicle and equipment cost more than W30 million (US$1=W929). And whenever a test flight failed, students toiled harder to make it work the next time.
By repeated trial and error, the research team eventually saw signs of success. In October 2006, a Korean broker approached Kee saying an unnamed Asian nation wants to buy the technology. The professor, mindful of Korea’s interests, turned him down. Finally on April 26, SNUGL performed a perfect takeoff and landing. Despite all the expense, Kee said, a GPS receiver costs only 1/10 of the inertial sensor. He predicted the technology will slash the prices of UAVs.
The team aims at participating in a global UAV competition at the Georgia Institute of Technology in August. The problem is the enormous cost for participation. “With my students who struggled together over the last six years, our team can have a shot at winning,” Kee said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
http://www.tagstory.com/video/video_post.aspx?media_id=V000054052
UAV getting much cheaper, ping!
Hoping that the US buys this technology post-haste!
My, wouldn’t that be fun: bring in a UAV to South Korea, bit by bit, assemble it, and then fill it with anti-Kim Jong il propaganda in the Korean language, send it up from Kyonggi-do or Gangwon-do provinces, over the DMZ straight into Kimmyland, and have it dump it’s loveable cargo right over Kaesong or some other town in the southern DPRK.
I’m surprised someone hasn’t done it here yet. If we can’t develop GPS driven UAVs there’s a problem.
The issue is two fold. One is operating in a GPS denied environment. The second is generating target quality coordinates of what your sensors are looking at. Without inertial sensors you won't be able to have an accurate enough attitude to tell where your sensor is pointing.
This could have applications for small UAVs that are used in a tactical environment or for UAVs that don't have to generate target quality data such as chasing illegals/drug smugglers on the border with Mexico.
Inertial systems are expensive, but they are getting cheaper as well. I am working on a project where the total install, equipment, software load on a tactical jet is going to cost $100K a piece. For that 100K you get embedded GPS, 2 minute alignment, 10K hour MTBF, and expansion to approach capability. By putting that unit in an unmanned aircraft you could probably drop that cost quite a bit.
And with questions come answers and beyond that, moderate understanding. Thanks =P
It is my impression that they’re using the GPS satellite signal in new ways were they can resolve additional vector and motion information more quickly than a traditional GPS receiver is capable of.
I wonder if these could be adapted for deer hunting!
meanwhile, our kollege studentz take pictures of them with the “thumbs up!” sign...holding a beer keg, a bong or a Che Guevara poster.
Don't worry. There are plenty of dumbos here, too.
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