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12 Platform one Dr Donough Wilson Dr Donough Wilson is innovation lead at VIVID/ futureVision, which specialises in game- changing thinking for defence, homeland security, and both manned and unmanned aviation innovations. He was first to propose the automatic tracking and satellite download of airliner black box data, technology which is now being adopted. His defence innovations include the automatic cockpit vision system that protects military aircrew from asymmetric high-energy laser attack. As a pilot, he has more than 3000 hours of flying experience in both military and civil environments, and is currently a flying instructor and a flight test examiner. Paul Weighell Paul has been involved with electronics, computer design and programming since 1966. He has worked in the real-time and failsafe data acquisition and automaton industry using mainframes, minis, micros and cloud-based hardware on applications as diverse as defence, Siberian gas pipeline control, UK nuclear power, robotics, the Thames Barrier, Formula One and automated financial trading systems. Ian Williams-Wynn Ian has been involved with unmanned and autonomous systems for more than 20 years. He started his career in the military working with early prototype unmanned systems and exploiting imagery from a range of unmanned systems from global suppliers. He has also been involved in ground-breaking research including novel power and propulsion systems, sensor technologies, communications, avionics and physical platforms. His experience covers a broad spectrum of domains from space, air, maritime and ground, and in both defence and civil applications including, more recently, connected autonomous cars. Unmanned Systems Technology’s consultants A small, inexpensive UAV and a larger UGV working together as an alternative to remote sensing and manual data collection could transform precision agriculture, ensuring that water, fertiliser and herbicides are applied only where they are needed, according to a US patent granted to the University of Minnesota (writes Peter Donaldson). A team led by Ibrahim Volkan Isler, an associate professor in the university’s department of computer science, invented the concept. In it, a small electric UAV would be carried by a UGV to its initial launch point where it would take off, image a number of carefully selected locations and return to land on the UGV, which would then relocate to repeat the process elsewhere. The idea plays to the strengths of each vehicle type. UGVs can cover long distances with large loads relatively slowly and measure soil conditions, while UAVs can image multiple locations in a short time but have limited payload and endurance. The UAV would have at least one imaging sensor and a memory containing multiple collection points, while the UGV would carry a soil sensor, for measuring nitrogen levels for example, and a memory containing the landing time and location for the UAV. The patent also covers the path planning software that generates routes to maximise sample collection capability within a given energy budget. For example, it works out when it takes less energy for the UAV to land and be carried to the next location than it would to fly there. The process starts with information on initial conditions in the field, perhaps derived from satellite imagery. The map would include labels on selected points showing relevant soil conditions, such as moisture content and nitrogen levels, with an allowance for potentially mislabelled points (PMLs). While the UAV’s path plan is based on this, that of the UGV is calculated to enable it to get close enough to each PML to either confirm or reject the initial classification. The software goes thorough an iterative process, beginning with the identification of a maximal set of non-intersecting areas in which measurements should be taken, and setting a route for an initial ‘tour’ to a point in each area. It then finds a minimum number of sampling points in each area to ensure that each contains at least one, using this information to adjust the initial ‘tour’. It is this adjusted tour that the UAV then flies. The ability to apply the right quantities of water and chemicals at the right time can minimise the amounts used. Fertile ground for UAV-UGV team Collaboration The software works out when it takes less energy for the UAV to land and be carried to the next location than to fly there February/March 2017 | Unmanned Systems Technology