Aerobot Research

Details of our more recent aerobot research can be found at the Space Robotics at Aberystwyth University web page.

A series of experiments are being designed, that will use a 5 m (length) helium filled autonomous airship (ALTAIR-2). The experiments are based upon the planetary exploration task of navigating accurately to a series of pre-defined way-points, whilst being subjected to realistic meteorological perturbation. Navigation and flight technology will be integrated with the airship, together with appropriate instrumentation and autonomous control software. Wireless telemetry will be used between the instrumented airship gondola and a remote ground-based control station.

For those planets and moons that support an atmosphere (e.g. Mars, Venus, Titan and Jupiter), aerobots are likely to provide a practical solution to the problem of extended planetary surface coverage for terrain mapping, and surface/sub-surface composition surveying. Not only could such devices be used for sub-orbital mapping of terrain regions, but they could be used to also transport and deploy science packages or even microrovers at different geographically separate land sites. (Photo. courtesy NASA/JPL/Caltech)

		A series of laboratory experiments have been conducted using a spherical helium filled autonomous aerobot. The experiments are part of our ALTAIR research programme.
	ALTAIR-1, shown here, is used to investigate aerobot flight control and navigation whilst being subjected to controlled 'meteorological' perturbation. Rudimentary navigation and flight technologies have been integrated with the aerobot, together with appropriate instrumentation and autonomous control software. Results are gathered via wireless telemetry between the instrumented aerobot gondola, and a remote ground-based control station.

Aerobot Funding and Selected Publications:

Background

The simplest aerobots are unmanned balloons and the first to visit other planets were the two French/ Russian Vega balloons, Venus Vega, that explored the atmosphere of Venus for two days in 1985. Using only simple data acquisition sequences, these aerobots measured temperatures, pressures, wind speeds, and cloud particle properties of Venus. However they could not control their movements autonomously. For extended missions, planetary aerobots must be able to function without relying on constant guidance from Earth. An autonomous planetary aerobot must be able to determine its position, altitude, and velocity, acquire scientific data, actively control its altitude and direction, and land at designated surface sites.

The ALTAIR Research Programme

	Aberystwyth Lighter Than Air Intelligent Robot
	The aim of the ALTAIR research programme is to investigate autonomous aerobot flight control and navigation methods for planetary exploration. In addressing this problem area, our work seeks to answer three questions: are autonomous planetary aerobots technically and operationally feasible in the immediate or foreseeable future? what existing (space and non-space) "off-the-shelf" technologies and methods are available for use within an autonomous planetary aerobot mission? and what new technologies and methods are needed, or modifications required, if direct "off-the-shelf" solutions are not available?

ALTAIR Research Areas

The ALTAIR research programme is focused upon the problems associated with autonomous aerobot flight control and navigation for planetary exploration applications. We are investigating a number of areas including:

• Autonomous navigation:
  • Inertial navigation
  • Celestial navigation
  • Geomorphometric navigation
  • Magnetic navigation
• Autonomous flight control:
  • Aerobot state estimation
  • Model-based flight control methods
  • Behaviour-based flight control methods
  • Quantitative flight control methods

ALTAIR Research Aerobots

• ALTAIR-1: a modular laboratory based aerobot designed for rapid prototyping and experimentation within a controlled environment. Typical modules include: flight control and navigation microcontroller(s), beacon detection, altimeter and landing sensors, electrical power, vectored propulsion units, and aerobot to ground mission control RF communications. All modules are housed in the ALTAIR-1 gondola.
• ALTAIR-2: a large (5 m length) aerobot under design, will be capable of lifting 3 kg payloads. ALTAIR-2 will be used for both large scale indoor trials within a controlled environment, and outdoor trials. Here our autonomous control and navigation methods can be subjected to the full vagaries of terrestrial weather.

Sample Publications

• Barnes D.P., Summers, P., Shaw, A., An investigation into aerobot technologies for planetary exploration. In Proc. 6th ESA Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation, ASTRA 2000. ESTEC Noordwijk, NL, pp. 3.6-5, December 2000. PDF version available.
• Geneste, E., Barnes, D.P., Aerobot airdata measurement for planetary exploration, In Proc. TIMR 01 - Towards Intelligent Mobile Robots, 3rd British Conference on Autonomous Mobile Robots and Autonomous Systems, Manchester, UK, ISSN 1361-6161, April 2001. PDF version available.
• Shaw A., Barnes D.P., Summers P. Landmark recognition for localisation and navigation of aerial vehicles. In Proc. 7th ESA Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation, ASTRA 2002. ESTEC Noordwijk, NL, November 2002. PDF version available.
• Summers P., Barnes D.P., Shaw A. Determination of planetary meteorology from aerobot flight sensors. In Proc. 7th ESA Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation, ASTRA 2002. ESTEC Noordwijk, NL, November 2002. PDF version available.

The information provided on this and other pages by me, Dave Barnes, is under my own personal responsibility and not that of Aberystwyth University. Similarly, any opinions expressed are my own and are in no way to be taken as those of Aberystwyth University.