A key obstacle in the growth of unmanned vehicle operations is the number of operators required to supervise and control an unmanned vehicle. New unmanned vehicle CONOPS call for an individual or small groups of tightly integrated operators to control several vehicles simultaneously. This push to invert the classic operator/vehicle ratio cannot be achieved solely by increasing the intelligence ...

Small unmanned aircraft systems are envisioned to play a major role in surveilling critical assets, collecting data, and delivering goods. Large scale operations are expected to happen in low altitude airspace in the near future, where many static and dynamic constraints exist. High sensitivity to wind and high maneuverability are unique characteristics of these vehicles, which bring great chal...

On August 2, 2010, a Navy helicopter entered the highly restricted airspace above Washington, D.C. without permission [1]. The event might have passed as unremarkable but for the fact that no-one was piloting the helicopter: as an unmanned aircraft, it carried no humans onboard, and—somehow—the vital communications link to its ground operators had been lost. The 1,429-kilogram MQ-8B Fire Scout ...

Advances in autonomy have made it possible to invert the typical operator-to-unmanned-vehicle ratio so that a single operator can now control multiple heterogeneous unmanned vehicles. Algorithms used in unmanned-vehicle path planning and task allocation typically have an objective function that only takes into account variables initially identified by designers with set weightings. This canmake...

This paper begins to investigate the question: “What is the proper role of humans in the operation of a military Spaceplane?” All too often, the question boils down to: “Should it be manned or unmanned?” While it’s true that some man-machine interface types require a man on-board and some don’t, this manned/unmanned oversimplification skews the true context of the issue. Therefore, this paper s...

The feasibility of using a stand alone Fluidic Thrust-Vectoring (FTV) system for the purpose of longitudinal trim of an unmanned aerial vehicle is the focus of the research presented in this paper. Since the fluidic thrust vectoring requires high pressure secondary air to deflect the engine exhaust gases, this research also provides an analytical toolset for preliminary sizing of a suitable sec...

The body-brain coevolution of aerial life forms has not been developed as far as aquatic or terrestrial locomotion in the field of artificial life. We are studying physically simulated 3D flying creatures by evolving both wing shapes and their controllers. A creature's wing is modeled as a number of articulated cylinders, connected by triangular films (patagia). The wing structure and its motor...

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda is a polyphagous and economically important insect pest originated from tropical sub-tropical parts of America. Being strong flier, climatic adaptation large host range makes it serious threat to food security. It responsible for high economic losses in many cash crops, vegetables cereals. overreliance overuse pesticides the management FAW posed pr...