UAS Design and Simulation using ERAU Hub

ERAU Hub, an awesome interactive application for the design and simulation of UAS, was created by ERAU-Worldwide in partnership with Pinnacle Solutions. This week I had the opportunity in course task to explore the application by creating a UAS fit for a search and rescue mission to find a lost hiker in Yosemite Park. I panicked a little at first as my knowledge about UAS design going into the course, however the tutorials quickly soothed me. 

For search and rescue missions of this nature, the use of rotary-wing aircraft over fixed winged aircraft is motivated by many factors. Rotary-wing aircraft can take off and land vertically; fly laterally, forwards and backwards; and hover for extended periods of time making it easy to navigate difficult terrain. They also have superior handling properties for conditions with low airspeed when compared with fixed wing aircraft. They do not need runway infrastructure or large cleared areas for landing, and their ability to hover enables aerial retrievals in places such as rocky mountain faces and bodies of water where landing may be complex if not impossible. Their ability to hover also enables search and rescue representatives and medics to be lowered to the ground with necessary equipment using hoists. The downward field of view in a rotary-wing aircraft is also a lot bigger when compared to fixed wing aircraft. For all these reasons, I chose to use a Gannet Rotary-Wing chassis for the mission. After a few trial and error attempts, I managed to configure the UAS to successfully complete the mission. The configurable design parameters for the rotary-wing chassis included power options (engine, generator, fuel level and battery), control mode, sensory system options including camera selection for visuals, and communication options. The ground control station, a trailer with a large dipole antenna, was chosen for maximum communication range. My UAV was equipped for manual flight with a 4-stroke gas engine, infrared camera, a second LiDAR camera, laser altimeter, RPM sensor, ERA 10000mA battery power house, dipole antenna for communications and 100% fuel. This configuration gave me 64 minutes of flight time for the mission. 

My UAV Design

My GCS Design

I created a flight plan using additional antennas to extend the communication range, and commenced the flight.  

My Flight Plan

The infrared camera made it easy to spot living beings using heat signals and I could see and differentiate between animals, trees, rocks and humans. I flew along the river with a 360 degree field of view until I found the missing hiker after flying around for a while and got a few photos of the animals and the hiker by hovering over them.  

 

I also spotted a forest fire and noticed that flying too close to it caused interference on my control and communication equipment. The simulations provided a realistic view of a few human factors issues which UAV pilot may experience. These include the reliance on the UAS system to provide sensory cues to aid decision making, having to monitor and manage multiple systems simultaneously to maintain situational awareness and losing communications with the UAV through human error.