• Title/Summary/Keyword: UAVs

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A Feasibility Study for a Stratospheric Long-endurance Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle using a Regenerative Fuel Cell System

  • Cho, Seong-Hyun;Cha, Moon-Yong;Kim, Minjin;Sohn, Young-Jun;Yang, Tae-Hyun;Lee, Won-Yong
    • Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.41-51
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    • 2016
  • In the stratosphere, the air is stable and a photovoltaic (PV) system can produce more solar energy compared to in the atmosphere. If unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fly in the stratosphere, the flight stability and efficiency of the mission are improved. On the other hand, the weakened lift force of the UAV due to the rarefied atmosphere can require more power for lift according to the weight and/or wing area of the UAV. To solve this problem, it is necessary to minimize the weight of the aircraft and improve the performance of the power system. A regenerative fuel cell (RFC) consisting of a fuel cell (FC) and water electrolysis (WE) combined PV power system has been investigated as a good alterative because of its higher specific energy. The WE system produces hydrogen and oxygen, providing extra energy beyond the energy generated by the PV system in the daytime, and then saves the gases in tanks. The FC system supplies the required power to the UAV at night, so the additional fuel supply to the UAV is not needed anymore. The specific energy of RFC systems is higher than that of Li-ion battery systems, so they have less weight than batteries that supply the same energy to the UAV. In this paper, for a stratospheric long-endurance hybrid UAV based on an RFC system, three major design factors (UAV weight, wing area and performance of WE) affecting the ability of long-term flight were determined and a simulation-based feasibility study was performed. The effects of the three design factors were analyzed as the flight time increased, and acceptable values of the factors for long endurance were found. As a result, the long-endurance of the target UAV was possible when the values were under 350 kg, above 150 m2 and under 80 kWh/kg H2.

Research on R&D requirement planning support strategies to foster arms exports: focused on researching the evaluation model of marketability of weapon systems (방산수출을 고려한 R&D 소요기획 지원전략 연구: 무기체계 시장성 평가모델 연구를 중심으로)

  • Han, Bong-Yoon;Won, Jun-Ho
    • Journal of Technology Innovation
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.93-128
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    • 2012
  • Defense technology planning identifies medium-and long-term core technologies to accomplish future defense goals and suggests strategies for future R&D. In order to promote the export-oriented defense industry, planning paradigms should be shifted from technology-oriented planning that focuses on weapon systems to market- oriented R&D planning. This study aims to strategically support 'preliminary technology planning' the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality is pushing ahead with. Through market-orientation analysis models of weapon systems based on defense R&D planning, data research on previous market-oriented research, and the analyses and examples of global defence markets, it evaluates market attractiveness to UAVs and drew methods for exploring markets and enhancing competitiveness of military equipment. The market-oriented analysis model of weapon systems is considered to be a helpful reference as a relevant factor for decision making on establishing and verifying requirement planning. In particular, if a market-oriented defense R&D planning process is established institutionally, it will enable us to make export strategies tailored to different equipment from the planning phase and to support marketing strategically.

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Development of relational river data model based on river network for multi-dimensional river information system (다차원 하천정보체계 구축을 위한 하천네트워크 기반 관계형 하천 데이터 모델 개발)

  • Choi, Seungsoo;Kim, Dongsu;You, Hojun
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.335-346
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    • 2018
  • A vast amount of riverine spatial dataset have recently become available, which include hydrodynamic and morphological survey data by advanced instrumentations such as ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler), transect measurements obtained through building various river basic plans, riverine environmental and ecological data, optical images using UAVs, river facilities like multi-purposed weir and hydrophilic sectors. In this regard, a standardized data model has been subsequently required in order to efficiently store, manage, and share riverine spatial dataset. Given that riverine spatial dataset such as river facility, transect measurement, time-varying observed data should be synthetically managed along specified river network, conventional data model showed a tendency to maintain them individually in a form of separate layer corresponding to each theme, which can miss their spatial relationship, thereby resulting in inefficiency to derive synthetic information. Moreover, the data model had to be significantly modified to ingest newly produced data and hampered efficient searches for specific conditions. To avoid such drawbacks for layer-based data model, this research proposed a relational data model in conjunction with river network which could be a backbone to relate additional spatial dataset such as flowline, river facility, transect measurement and surveyed dataset. The new data model contains flexibility to minimize changes of its structure when it deals with any multi-dimensional river data, and assigned reach code for multiple river segments delineated from a river. To realize the newly developed data model, Seom river was applied, where geographic informations related with national and local rivers are available.

Estimation of Longitudinal Dynamic Stability Derivatives for a Tailless Aircraft Using Dynamic Mesh Method (Dynamic Mesh 기법을 활용한 무미익 비행체 종축 동안정 미계수 예측)

  • Chung, Hyoung-Seog;Yang, Kwang-Jin;Kwon, Ky-Beom;Lee, Ho-Keun;Kim, Sun-Tae;Lee, Myung-Sup;Reu, Taekyu
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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    • v.43 no.3
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    • pp.232-242
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    • 2015
  • For stealth performance consideration, many UAV designs are adopting tailless lambda-shaped configurations which are likely to have unsteady dynamic characteristics. In order to control such UAVs through automatic flight control system, more accurate estimation of dynamic stability derivatives becomes essential. In this paper, dynamic stability derivatives of a tailless lambda-shaped UAV are estimated through numerically simulated forced oscillation method incorporating dynamic mesh technique. First, the methodology is validated by benchmarking the CFD results against previously published experimental results of the Standard Dynamics Model(SDM). The dependency of initial angle of attack, oscillation frequency and oscillation magnitude on the dynamic stability derivatives of a tailless UAV configuration is then studied. The results show reasonable agreements with experimental reference data and prove the validity and efficiency of the concept of using CFD to estimate the dynamic derivatives.

An Experimental Study on Blade Deformation of Coaxial Rotor System Using SPR(Stereo Pattern Recognition) Technique (SPR(Stereo Pattern Recognition) 기법을 이용한 동축 로터 블레이드의 변형에 대한 실험적 연구)

  • Yoo, Chanho;Yoon, Byung-Il;Chae, Sanghyun;Kim, Do-Hyung;Kim, Deog-Kwan
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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    • v.48 no.8
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    • pp.597-609
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    • 2020
  • These days, the coaxial rotor system is used for various purposes like UAVs, Mars exploration helicopters, and the next-generation high-speed rotorcraft. A number of research projects on aerodynamic performance of rotor systems, including the coaxial configuration have been made previously. On the contrary, research on rotor blade deformation has been mainly carried out regarding the single rotor system, where such effort has not been enough on the coaxial system. Nonetheless, in case of the coaxial system, blade deformation analysis is much more important because of the complex air flow around the rotors, and that the distance between the two rotors is a key factor affects aerodynamic performance of the entire system. For these reasons, an experimental study on rotor blade deformation of the coaxial system was conducted using the Stereo Pattern Recognition(SPR) technique, one of the state-of-the-art of photogrammetry method. In this research, a small-scale coaxial rotor test stand designed by Korea Aerospace Research Institute(KARI) was used. With the same test stand, performance of the coaxial configuration had been studied before the experimental study on blade deformation, in order to find the relation between performance and blade deformation of the rotor system. Results of the performance test and the deformation study are presented in this article.

A Preliminary Study on Usability of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Observing Park Users - Focused on Urban Parks in Busan - (공원 이용 실태 조사를 위한 무인비행장치의 활용성 연구 - 부산시 도시공원을 사례로 -)

  • Park, Keunhyun;Park, Sungburm
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.44 no.4
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    • pp.35-44
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    • 2016
  • Two primary tools to study park use are surveys and direct observation. Existing methods, however, are limited in terms of considerable costs in both time and money and the personal bias of respondents or observers. These limitations result in a lack of efficient, reliable, and affordable tools to investigate park use. This study explores the reliability and usability of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) to explore park use in urban parks in Busan metropolitan city. By comparing with a systematic observation tool, SOPARC(System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities), this study finds that the number of park users observed by two different techniques are highly correlated and not significantly different with each other. In addition, both methods show a high level of test-retest reliability. Comparing to existing methods, the UAV-using observation tool could cover larger target areas and is suitable to count park users in a more reliable and efficient way and map their use patterns, although it is weak in collecting detailed user information and surveying under poor conditions such as rain. Thus, the UAV method could complement direct observation. This study suggests practical implications of a UAV method to study park use.

Improvement of Ortho Image Quality by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV에 의한 정사영상의 품질 개선 방안)

  • Um, Dae-Yong;Park, Joon-Kyu
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.19 no.11
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    • pp.568-573
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    • 2018
  • UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) is widely used in space information construction, agriculture, fisheries, weather observation, communication, and entertainment fields because they are cheaper and easier to operate than manned aircraft. In particular, UAV have attracted much attention due to the speed and cost of data acquisition in the field of spatial information construction. However, ortho image images produced using UAVs are distorted in buildings and forests. It is necessary to solve these problems in order to utilize the geospatial information field. In this study, fixed wing, rotary wing, vertical take off and landing type UAV were used to detect distortions of ortho image of UAV under various conditions, and various object areas such as construction site, urban area, and forest area were captured and analysed. Through the research, it was found that the redundancy of the unmanned aerial vehicle image is the biggest factor of the distortion phenomenon, and the higher the flight altitude, the less the distortion phenomenon. We also proposed a method to reduce distortion of orthoimage by lowering the resolution of original image using DTM (Digital Terrain Model) to improve distortion. Future high-quality unmanned aerial vehicles without distortions will contribute greatly to the application of UAV in the field of precision surveying.

Accuracy Analysis of Low-cost UAV Photogrammetry for Corridor Mapping (선형 대상지에 대한 저가의 무인항공기 사진측량 정확도 평가)

  • Oh, Jae Hong;Jang, Yeong Jae;Lee, Chang No
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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    • v.36 no.6
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    • pp.565-572
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    • 2018
  • Recently, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or drones have gained popularity for the engineering surveying and mapping because they enable the rapid data acquisition and processing as well as their operation cost is low. The applicable fields become much wider including the topographic monitoring, agriculture, and forestry. It is reported that the high geospatial accuracy is achievable with the drone photogrammetry for many applications. However most studies reported the best achievable mapping results using well-distributed ground control points though some studies investigated the impact of control points on the accuracy. In this study, we focused on the drone mapping of corridors such as roads and pipelines. The distribution and the number of control points along the corridor were diversified for the accuracy assessment. In addition, the effects of the camera self-calibration and the number of the image strips were also studied. The experimental results showed that the biased distribution of ground control points has more negative impact on the accuracy compared to the density of points. The prior camera calibration was favored than the on-the-fly self-calibration that may produce poor positional accuracy for the case of less or biased control points. In addition, increasing the number of strips along the corridor was not helpful to increase the positional accuracy.

Land Cover Classification of High-Spatial Resolution Imagery using Fixed-Wing UAV (고정익 UAV를 이용한 고해상도 영상의 토지피복분류)

  • Yang, Sung-Ryong;Lee, Hak-Sool
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.501-509
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    • 2018
  • Purpose: UAV-based photo measurements are being researched using UAVs in the space information field as they are not only cost-effective compared to conventional aerial imaging but also easy to obtain high-resolution data on desired time and location. In this study, the UAV-based high-resolution images were used to perform the land cover classification. Method: RGB cameras were used to obtain high-resolution images, and in addition, multi-distribution cameras were used to photograph the same regions in order to accurately classify the feeding areas. Finally, Land cover classification was carried out for a total of seven classes using created ortho image by RGB and multispectral camera, DSM(Digital Surface Model), NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), GLCM(Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix) using RF (Random Forest), a representative supervisory classification system. Results: To assess the accuracy of the classification, an accuracy assessment based on the error matrix was conducted, and the accuracy assessment results were verified that the proposed method could effectively classify classes in the region by comparing with the supervisory results using RGB images only. Conclusion: In case of adding orthoimage, multispectral image, NDVI and GLCM proposed in this study, accuracy was higher than that of conventional orthoimage. Future research will attempt to improve classification accuracy through the development of additional input data.

Analysis of Spectral Reflectance Characteristics Using Hyperspectral Sensor at Diverse Phenological Stages of Soybeans

  • Go, Seung-Hwan;Park, Jin-Ki;Park, Jong-Hwa
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.37 no.4
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    • pp.699-717
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    • 2021
  • South Korea is pushing for the advancement of crop production technology to achieve food self-sufficiency and meet the demand for safe food. A medium-sized satellite for agriculture is being launched in 2023 with the aim of collecting and providing information on agriculture, not only in Korea but also in neighboring countries. The satellite is to be equipped with various sensors, though reference data for ground information are lacking. Hyperspectral remote sensing combined with 1st derivative is an efficient tool for the identification of agricultural crops. In our study, we develop a system for hyperspectral analysis of the ground-based reflectance spectrum, which is monitored seven times during the cultivation period of three soybean crops using a PSR-2500 hyperspectral sensor. In the reflection spectrum of soybean canopy, wavelength variations correspond with stages of soybean growths. The spectral reflection characteristics of soybeans can be divided according to growth into the vegetative (V)stage and the reproductive (R)stage. As a result of the first derivative analysis of the spectral reflection characteristics, it is possible to identify the characteristics of each wavelength band. Using our developed monitoring system, we observed that the near-infrared (NIR) variation was largest during the vegetative (V1-V3) stage, followed by a similar variation pattern in the order of red-edge and visible. In the reproductive stage (R1-R8), the effect of the shape and color of the soybean leaf was reflected, and the pattern is different from that in the vegetative (V) stage. At the R1 to R6 stages, the variation in NIR was the largest, and red-edge and green showed similar variation patterns, but red showed little change. In particular, the reflectance characteristics of the R1 stage provides information that could help us distinguish between the three varieties of soybean that were studied. In the R7-R8 stage, close to the harvest period, the red-edge and NIR variation patterns and the visible variation patterns changed. These results are interpreted as a result of the large effects of pigments such as chlorophyll for each of the three soybean varieties, as well as from the formation and color of the leaf and stem. The results obtained in this study provide useful information that helps us to determine the wavelength width and range of the optimal band for monitoring and acquiring vegetation information on crops using satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)