Dr. Manish Kumar Associate Professor

University of Cincinnati

UAV Multi-Agent SysTEm

Research (MASTER) LAB

Dr. Kelly Cohen Professor,

Univ. of Cincinnati

UAVs for Emergency Responders University of Cincinnati-Aug. 10, 2016

UAV Research @UC • UC has a very strong research

program in the areas of UAVs

that focuses on the following

research areas

– Navigation and path planning

– Multi-sensor fusion for situational

awareness and tracking

– Novel UAV design, system ID, and

control

– Large scale optimization for

tasking and resource allocation

Novel quad-rotor design and control

Tracking of ground objects

System identification and control of

multi-copters

UAV path planning in National Air-

Space

UAV Operations @ UC

UAVs for wildfire monitoring

UAVs for package delivery with Workhorse

Winner of Indoor Navigation

Challenge, AAVC 2014-15 Prof. Franck Cazaurang flying a

quad-copter in the UAV Master

Lab

Dr. Wei in West Virginia

Introduction to SIERRA

Intro to SIERRA Value Proposition Timeline Publications

and Media

Main Features of the

Technology

• A small-UAV gathers real-time

data that includes vision/infra-

red videos, and flight data from

GPS and Inertial Measurement

Unit

• Data processed to obtain

current locations of wildfires

and geo-referenced to mapping

services such as google maps

• Real-time data combined with

environmental and topographic

information fed to fire prediction

model to provide predicted

growth of fire fronts to aid

resource allocation/decision-

making

People

Impacted

Introduction to SIERRA

Technological Innovations Control and autonomous navigation

Data processing and information portrayal

User interface development

Intro to SIERRA Value Proposition Timeline Publications and Media

Autonomous search of ground

events

Autonomous hot-spot visit for

persistent monitoring

Auto-pilot Design Tracking of Maneuvering

Ground Targets

Video processing for smoke removal, hot-spot and human

identification

Value Proposition

Save lives and property by enhanced real-time

information and decision making: The proposed

UAV based platform provides an unprecedented

opportunity to gather real-time information and deliver

emergency supplies. Such capability, currently

unavailable, will allow the firefighters to make

decisions to save lives and suppress fire in most

efficient manner.

Ease of use by first responders: As opposed to

other UAV platforms available in the market, this

platform will provide push-button facility to operate the

UAV and visualize the information. Such a capability

is invaluable for non-pilots working in heavy stress

situations.

Intro to SIERRA Value Proposition Timeline Publications and Media

SIERRA - Timeline

Fall 2010 Spring

2011- Fall 2011

2010-2012

July 2013-Feb 2014

June 2014 – Nov 2015

Winter 2016

• NASA/OSGC

funding of $25K

• UAV flight training

in Georgia

• Demo #1 & #2 with

West Virginia

Forestry

• Fire-fighting training

for UC graduate

student

• NSF BECS

Project (EFRI-

1024608)

• NSF I-Corps

Project (IIP-

1343498)

• Extensive media

coverage of SIERRA on

Discovery Channel, BBC

radio, local TV

• Demo #3 with

West Virginia

Forestry

• NSF PFI Project:

(IIP-1414346)

• Prep of 3 invention

disclosures

• NSF CHSI Project:

(1526677)

• Demo #4 with West

Virginia Forestry

• Seeking support from

UC business

accelerator program

• UAV Package

delivery system

gets extensive

media coverage

• UC receives

COAs for flight

operations

• Team wins 2

consecutive

Autonomous Aerial

Vehicle

Competitions: 2014-

15

Intro to SIERRA Value Proposition Timeline Publications and Media

People Impacted Intro to SIERRA Value Proposition Timeline

Publications

and Media

People

Impacted

Graduate Students Undergraduate Students Collaborators

Mr. Rodger Osborne West Virginia, Dept. of

Forestry

Ch. Thomas Lakamp District Fire Chief, Cincinnati Fire

Department

Steve Burns Workhorse Group

Connor Kress and Kyle Lentz Founders, Hephaestus LLC

Mohammad Sarim, Current Ph.D. Student

Bryan Brown, Current M.S. Student

Ruoyu Tan, M.S. 2013, Now at PSU

Balaji Sharma, Ph.D. 2013, Now at

Mathworks

Sushil Garg, M.S. 2013, Now at Google

Alireza Nemati, Current Ph.D. Student

M. Radmanesh, Current M.S. Student

Liberty Shockley, Current Undergraduate

Anoop Sathyan, Current Ph.D. Student

Sarthak Kukreti Current Ph.D. Student

Jeff Bennett, Current Undergrad Student

Nathaniel Richards, Current Undergraduate

Student

Prof. Larry Bennett Head, Fire Science, University of

Cincinnati

Nick Stockton, Current Undergrad Student

Publications and Media

Intro to SIERRA Value Proposition Timeline Publications

and Media

People

Impacted

Publications: 11 Journal papers, 2 book chapters, 1 invention disclosure, 20+ conference papers • HomChaudhuri, B., Kumar, M., and Cohen, K., “Resource Allocation and Optimal Fireline Building using a Genetic Algorithm for Fighting Forest Fires”,

International Journal of Computational Methods, Vol. 10, No. 6, 28 pages, 2013, DOI No.: 10.1142/S0219876213500357.

• Tan, R. and Kumar, M., “Tracking of Ground Mobile Targets by Quadrotor UAVs”, Journal of Unmanned Systems, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 157-173, 2014.

• Radmanesh, M., Kumar, M., Nemati, A., and Sarim, M., “Dynamic Optimal UAV Trajectory Planning in the National Airspace System via Mixed Integer

Linear Programming”, accepted in the Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 2015.

• Wei W., Tischler, M., Schwartz, N., and Cohen, K., “System Identification and Flight Control of a Unmanned Quadrotor,” Novel Concepts in Unmanned

Aircraft Aerodynamics and Flight Stability, Editor Pascual Marques, Wiley, 2015 (Chapter written, reviewed and accepted by Editors in final version

Estimated Print – Fall 2015.

• Kivelevitch E., Cohen, K., and Kumar, M., “Near-Optimal Assignment of UAVs to Targets Using a Market-Based Approach,” Operations Research for

Unmanned Systems, Jeffrey R. Cares and John Q. Dickmann, PhD, editors. Wiley, 2015, Chapter written, reviewed and accepted by Editors in final

version, Estimated Print – Winter 2015.

• Sharma, B., Kumar, M., and Cohen, K., “Spatio-Temporal Estimation of Fire Growth”, ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Palo Alto, CA,

2013.

• Brown, B., Wei, W., Ozburn, R., Kumar, M., and Cohen, K., “Surveillance for Intelligent Emergency Response Robotic Aircraft (SIERRA)- VTOL Aircraft

for Emergency Response”, AIAA Infotech @ Aerospace, AIAA Science and Technology Forum, Jan. 2015.

Invention disclosure/provisional patent

Media coverage: 4 Local and national TV, 1 Radio (BBC), and 20+ print media TV • WCPO “Ahead of the storm”, http://www.wcpo.com/weather/tonight-9-first-warning-weather-teams-

ahead-of-the-storm-special, March 26, 2015

• SIERRA, Daily Planet, Discovery Channel Canada, Feb. 9, 2012

• Horsefly: delivery drone, Bloomberg TV, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2014-12-22/making-

deliveries-greener-ups-set-to-buy-electric-trucks, Dec. 22, 2014

Print • Using Unmanned Systems to Fight Wildfires, http://www.insidegnss.com/node/4287, Nov. 2014

• The Dream of Delivery Drones Is Alive (And On A Truck), http://www.popsci.com/dream-delivery-drones-

alive-and-truck, Deb. 18, 2015

• Onlinemd: Top ten UAV programs in US, http://www.onlineamd.com/article/amd1014-UAS-school-

programs#.VD6S-yldVm1

Earth-Fixed Inertial Frame Based Radio Controller (RC) for Multi-copter UAVs, Disclosure filed on 02/09/15, Approved for provisional patent application on

9/10/15

Octo-Copter Package Delivery • UC is partnering with AMP Electric

Vehicles on package delivery using

Octo-rotor UAVs.

• Rather than a UAV traveling straight

from warehouse to delivery site, this

duo will be able to more efficiently

deliver a large amount of packages.

• The UAV can recharge wirelessly

using the truck’s battery, and safety

redundancies are in place such as the

octorotor design.

• Other ease-of-use features are

planned, such as the ability for the

HorseFly to scan a package’s barcode

and then autonomously navigate to the

destination.

http://www.wired.com/2014/06/the-next-big-thing-you-missed-

delivery-drones-launched-from-trucks-are-the-future-of-shipping/

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/11/03/drones-

electric-trucks-and-how-a-cincinnati.html

Package Delivery – with Workhorse

Group

Fault Tolerant Flight Control • Fault tolerance means

– The UAV should be able to complete its mission in case of individual component failure

– The UAV should gracefully abort its mission in a safe manner

• Failures could be

– Motor/rotor failures

– Sensor/communication failure

• Working with Prof. Franck Cazaurang of UB – Using flatness property to design fault

tolerance

– Using novel UAV design

Novel quad-rotor design and control

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Tracking of

Ground Maneuvering Targets

Ghose et. al. , 2006

Tilted-Rotor Quad copter

Parimal Kopardekar, Manager, NextGen Concepts and

Technology Development Project, NASA AMES

Integration of UAVs in the National Airspace • Developing algorithms for management

of UAV traffic

• ADS-B provides flight data to

neighboring aircrafts

• Objectives: maintain separation to avoid

collisions while fulfilling UAV’s mission

Smart Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Exploration (SUAVE)

Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Competition – 2014 - 2015

Winner of National Autonomous Aerial

Vehicle Competitions – 2014 - 2015

Aug. 26, 2014

April 28, 2015

Acknowledgement of Support • National Science

Foundation

• Army Research Office

• Missile Defense Agency

• Ohio Space Grants Consortium

• Dayton Area Graduate Students Institute

• Air Force Research Lab

• NASA