Universidad de Sevilla, Departamento de Ingenierķa Aeroespacial
Universidad de Sevilla, Departamento de Ingenierķa Aeroespacial
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Desarrollo de una Aeronave Convertible No-Tripulada para Despliegue Rápido y Eficiente en Situaciones de Emergencia
DevElopment of an unManned convERtible aircraft for rapid and efficient deployment in emerGENcy situaTIons
OUTLINE |
Emerging technologies are radically changing traditional operating procedures in disaster relief and emergency response management. In particular, Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) are proving themselves extremely useful in Search And Rescue (SAR) missions, as they bring very advantageous capabilities such as rapid response, remote operation, transportation of equipment, monitoring of wide areas, and multi-sensor deployment.
Rapid Intervention Vehicles (RIV) typically used in SAR missions have cargo space for at most one small RPAS of either fixed or rotatory wing type. Fixed wing aircraft are well suited to rapid deployment and remote monitoring but require external means (runways or catapults) for takeoff and landing, and cannot hover. Rotatory wing aircraft (such as quadrotors) have much less autonomy and range but can perform Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) and hover; thus they are suited for restricted or inaccessible areas and sensor deployment.
A third kind of aircraft, still relatively uncommon, is fixed-wing convertible aircraft with VTOL capabilities. They have the advantages of fixed and rotary wing aircraft without most of their shortcomings. A convertible UAV would allow a first response RIV vehicle to operate a single multi-purpose, multi-mission aircraft.
Thus, the solution that is outlined in this proposal is the development of a fixed wing convertible RPAS with VTOL capabilities, specifically designed for SAR missions. The aircraft will be easy to operate and fast to deploy; to this mean, guidance, navigation and control algorithms will be developed taking into account the requirements of SAR missions, such as fully autonomous operation supervised only by a healthcare emergency professional without any specialized training. On the other hand, highly integrated and efficient embedded electronics will be developed to reduce the aircraft dimensions and increase its autonomy, thus improving the versatility of the aircraft to carry out a variety of SAR missions. The project team is multidisciplinary and includes healthcare professionals that would help define specific requirements for SAR missions and test scenarios. The outcome of this project will allow the development of an innovative multi-purpose small-sized RPAS that could be fully integrated into the coordinated operations of emergency response services.
This project can be classified in the challenge “Smart, green, and integrated transport” included in the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy 2013-2020. The outcome of this project will allow the development of a multi-purpose RPAS that could be fully integrated into the coordinated operations of emergency response services.Keywords: RPAS,VTOL,requirement-based mission design, search and rescue, energy efficiency, guidance navigation and control strategies.
Spanish:
La irrupción de tecnologías emergentes está modificando los paradigmas empleados en la articulación de las medidas de coordinación en situaciones de emergencia. En particular, en los últimos años, la tecnología de vehículos aéreos tripulados de forma remota (RPAS) está siendo especialmente útil en misiones de búsqueda y rescate (SAR, Search And Rescue) gracias a sus capacidades de respuesta rápida, operación remota, transporte, monitorización y despliegue de sensores.
A pesar de ello, las posibilidades de actuación de los servicios SAR quedan limitadas por el tipo de RPAS elegido: los RPAS de ala fija poseen un mayor alcance, autonomía y capacidad de carga, pero sin capacidad de despegue y aterrizaje vertical (VTOL); los RPAS de ala rotatoria, aunque con mucha menor autonomía y alcance, sí aportan esta importante capacidad. Las limitaciones de espacio en los Vehículos de Intervención Rápida y la incertidumbre de qué tipo de UAV elegir en los primeros momentos de una situación de emergencia, plantean la necesidad de nuevas herramientas que aporten una solución al problema.
Este proyecto propone explorar el uso de RPAS de ala fija convertibles con capacidad VTOL, aunando las virtudes de los RPAS de ala fija y de ala rotatoria, permitiendo a un puesto de mando ligero transportar un único RPAS polivalente, que se integraría dentro de las medidas coordinadas de respuesta rápida ante emergencias.
Por ello, la solución propuesta en este proyecto pasa por el desarrollo de un RPAS convertible de ala fija con capacidades VTOL, diseñada específicamente para misiones SAR. Esta aeronave tendrá fácil operación y despliegue rápido gracias al desarrollo de estrategias de control y guiado autónomo específicas para este tipo de misiones, de forma que un profesional sanitario pueda utilizarlo sin requerir formación especializada. Por otro lado, se desarrollará electrónica embarcada de alta integración y eficiencia para reducir las dimensiones de la aeronave y aumentar su autonomía, adquiriendo mayor versatilidad para su funcionamiento en diferentes escenarios SAR.
Este proyecto supondrá una reevaluación de los conceptos establecidos en el uso de RPAS, con el objetivo de proporcionar herramientas mejor adaptadas a misiones SAR. El desarrollo estará totalmente enfocado a la aplicación, contando, para ello, con expertos del área de la asistencia sanitaria de emergencias que, dada su experiencia, determinarán las necesidades específicas para este tipo de misiones.
Este proyecto se puede clasificar en el reto “Transporte inteligente, sostenible e integrado“ que forma parte del Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016. El resultado de este proyecto permitirá desarrollar un RPAS multipropósito capaz de ser integrado dentro de las medidas coordinadas de respuesta rápida en situaciones de emergencia.
Palabras Clave: RPAS, diseño requerimientos misión, despegue y aterrizaje vertical, búsqueda y salvamento, estrategias control y navegación
The overall objective of the project is the design os a prototype of a convertible UAV with capabilities specifically designed for emergency, search and rescue missions. After a throughout study with the Emergency Services that provide support in catastrphic event and have determined that the UAS should have the following characteristics:
Based on these requirements the following specific objectives have been determined for project EMERGENTIA:
To achieve the objectives, a work plan has been developed in 10 work packages (WP), and these in turn in tasks (T). Each Task will be defined in each of the associated WP:
The Working Team is formed by researches from several institutions
From the Universidad de Sevilla (US), the researchers are part of several research groups:
From the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), the researchers are part of several research groups:
From the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), the researchers are part of several research groups:
From the Universidade Federal de Mina Gerais (UFMG), the researchers are part of several research groups:
From the Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), the researchers are part of several research groups:
From the Servicios de Asistencia Médica de Urgencia (SAMU), the researchers are part of several research groups:
Spanish Grants: The project has not received any finalcial support in Spain. The proposal has been presented to
European Grants: The project has not yet concurred to any European Grants
Brazilian Grants: In Brazil the project has received funding to the following projects:
A compilation of the publications related to the EMERGENTIA Project are collected in this page. The list of publications include:
© 2018 Sergio Esteban Roncero: contact sesteban@us.es