RADAR Based Collision Avoidance for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

<p>Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have become increasingly prevalent and will represent an increasing percentage of all aviation. These unmanned aircraft are available in a wide range of sizes and capabilities and can be used for a multitude of civilian and military applications. However, as the number of UAS increases so does the risk of mid-air collisions involving unmanned aircraft. This dissertation aims present one possible solution for addressing the mid-air collision problem in addition to increasing the levels of autonomy of UAS beyond waypoint navigation to include preemptive sensor-based collision avoidance. The presented research goes beyond the current state of the art by demonstrating the feasibility and providing an example of a scalable, self-contained, RADAR-based, collision avoidance system. The technology described herein can be made suitable for use on a miniature (Maximum Takeoff Weight < 10kg) UAS platform. This is of paramount importance as the miniature UAS field has the lowest barriers to entry (acquisition and operating costs) and consequently represents the most rapidly increasing class of UAS.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Moses, Allistair A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kimon P. Valavanis, Ph.D.
• Matthew J. Rutherford
• Richard Garcia
• Robert Whitman
• Daniel Pack
• Nikolaos Galatos

• Avoidance
• Collision
• Doppler
• FSKCW
• Frequency Shift Keyed Continuous Wave
• RADAR
• Radio Detection and Ranging
• Sensors
• Computer Engineering
• Engineering
• Robotics

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/455

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-1454