DOCSLIB.ORG

Downloadfile/566729524649660/Duartefigueiredo Thesis.Pdf (Accessed on 20 May 2021)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

drones Article Development of a Solar-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Extended Flight Endurance Yauhei Chu †, Chunleung Ho †, Yoonjo Lee † and Boyang Li * Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China; [email protected] (Y.C.); [email protected] (C.H.); [email protected] (Y.L.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +852-340-082-31 † Authors have contributed equally. Abstract: Having an exciting array of applications, the scope of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) application could be far wider one if its flight endurance can be prolonged. Solar-powered UAV, promising notable prolongation in flight endurance, is drawing increasing attention in the industries’ recent research and development. This work arose from a Bachelor’s degree capstone project at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The project aims to modify a 2-metre wingspan remote-controlled (RC) UAV available in the consumer market to be powered by a combination of solar and battery-stored power. The major objective is to greatly increase the flight endurance of the UAV by the power generated from the solar panels. The power system is first designed by selecting the suitable system architecture and then by selecting suitable components related to solar power. The flight control system is configured to conduct flight tests and validate the power system performance. Under fair experimental conditions with desirable weather conditions, the solar power system on the aircraft results in 22.5% savings in the use of battery-stored capacity. The decrease rate of battery voltage Citation: Chu, Y.; Ho, C.; Lee, Y.; Li, during the stable level flight of the solar-powered UAV built is also much slower than the same B. Development of a Solar-Powered configuration without a solar-power system. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Extended Flight Endurance. Drones Keywords: solar-powered; UAV; endurance extension; flight experiments 2021, 5, 44. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/drones5020044 Academic Editor: 1. Introduction Abdessattar Abdelkefi With widening the application scope of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as the driving force, the development of solar-powered UAV recently has attracted more attention in Received: 30 April 2021 academia and commercial industries. A critical factor limiting the scope of application Accepted: 21 May 2021 Published: 24 May 2021 of conventional battery-powered electric UAVs is their energy storage capability. The conventional UAV is powered by the energy stored in batteries on board to maintain the Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral propulsion and functioning of flight control electronics. The amount of carried electric with regard to jurisdictional claims in power limits its flight range before takeoff. Although increasing the size of the battery published maps and institutional affil- or installing more batteries can increase the energy storage capacity, the weight of the iations. aircraft also increases. In turn, more power is consumed to carry the extra weight, resulting in the flight range being not necessarily prolonged. A possible approach to overcome this physical limit is the use of solar power as an energy source on UAV. Solar-powered UAV, using solar cells installed onboard, captures solar energy reaching the aircraft surface during daylight. Such generated power is supplied to the motor to propel the aircraft and Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. other electronics or to recharge the battery on board. The battery supplies power when in This article is an open access article darkness or under clouds. distributed under the terms and This project is aimed at the development of a small fixed-wing hand-launched solar- conditions of the Creative Commons powered UAV. A remote-controlled (RC) model glider for leisure purpose available on Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// the consumer market, a 759-2 Phoenix 2000 RC plane, is modified to be powered by a creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ hybrid of solar power and battery-stored power. This project suggested key points for 4.0/). the modification of an existing conventional RC plane to be solar-powered. The most Drones 2021, 5, 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones5020044 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/drones Drones 2021, 5, 44 2 of 19 Drones 2021, 5, 44 2 of 19 modification of an existing conventional RC plane to be solar-powered. The most signifi- significantcant advantage advantage of modifying of modifying an existing an existing plan planee over over building building a new a new one one is the is thesaving saving on ondevelopment development time time and and cost cost on the on airframe, the airframe, making making solar-powered solar-powered UAV UAV available available to more to moreusers userswith witha more a more straightforward straightforward design design and andbuilding building process. process. Numerous Numerous adaptive adaptive de- designssigns are are required required for forsuch such modification, modification, for instance, for instance, modifying modifying the power the power system system archi- architecturetecture to include to include solar solar cells. cells. TheThe primaryprimary objectiveobjective ofof thisthis workwork isis to increase the flightflight duration of the UAV. FlightFlight teststests areare conductedconducted toto comparecompare thethe powerpower systemsystem performanceperformance ofof thethe RCRC planeplane betweenbetween thethe manufacturer’smanufacturer’s defaultdefault versionversion andand thethe solar-powersolar-power modifiedmodified version.version. ObjectivesObjectives areare alsoalso setset forfor thethe flightflight controlcontrol system.system. FlightFlight teststests forfor determiningdetermining thethe flightflight rangerange wouldwould lastlast forfor an extended period. period. To To ensure ensure a a fair fair comparison, comparison, the the flight flight control control system system shall shall be becapable capable of flying of flying the the aircraft aircraft autonomously autonomously without without human human intervention. intervention. The The finished finished so- solar-poweredlar-powered UAV UAV is is shown shown in in Figure Figure 1.1 . FigureFigure 1.1. TheThe solar-poweredsolar-powered UAVUAV builtbuilt inin this this project project named named ‘Sun’. ‘Sun’. 2.2. LiteratureLiterature ReviewReview 2.1.2.1. ExamplesExamples ofof Solar-PoweredSolar-Powered UAVUAV ProjectProject TheThe firstfirst reviewed reviewed solar-powered solar-powered UAV UAV project project is AtlantikSolar, is AtlantikSolar, which which was conducted was con- byducted Oettershagen by Oettershagen et al. [ 1et] ofal. the[1] of Autonomous the Autonomous Systems Systems Lab, Lab, Swiss Swiss Federal Federal Institute Institute of Technologyof Technology Zurich. Zurich. Having Having completed completed an 81-hour an 81-hour continuous continuous flight flight that coveredthat covered a distance a dis- oftance 2338 of km, 2,338 the km, UAV the established UAV established a new world a new record. world Itrecord. has a conventionalIt has a conventional glider configu- glider ration,configuration, having ahaving wingspan a wingspan of 5.69 m of and 5.69 a m total and mass a total of mass 6.93 kg. of 6.93 A new kg. methodology A new methodol- was developedogy was developed as a result as of a the result project of forthe theprojec designt for of the solar-powered design of solar-powered UAVs for energetically UAVs for robustenergetically perpetual robust flight perpetual in sub-optimal flight in meteorological sub-optimal meteorological conditions. The conditions. project started The project with energeticstarted with system energetic modelling system to modelling consider theto consider variations the invariations operating in conditionsoperating conditions and local meteorologicaland local meteorological conditions. conditions. The airframe The and airframe energy and generation energy generation and storage and system storage was sys- de- signedtem was according designed to according the parameters to the obtainedparameters from obtained the energetic from the system energetic modelling. system Power mod- systemelling. Power components, system suchcomponents, as the Maximum such as the Power Maximum Point Trackers Power Point (MPPT) Trackers and a (MPPT) battery managementand a battery system, management were custom-made system, were and custom-made are capable and of regulating are capable the of energy regulating flow and the providing detailed energy flow information. The flight control system was designed with energy flow and providing detailed energy flow information. The flight control system state-space models. With the design of aircraft systems completed, the design of the whole was designed with state-space models. With the design of aircraft systems completed, the UAV was preliminarily verified with lab tests and short flight tests. design of the whole UAV was preliminarily verified with lab tests and short flight tests. The second solar-powered UAV project reviewed is that conducted by Morton et al. [2] The second solar-powered UAV project reviewed is that conducted by Morton et al. at The Centre for Distributed Robotics, University of Minnesota. A 4-metre wingspan [2] at The Centre for Distributed Robotics, University of Minnesota. A 4-metre wingspan solar UAV for the objective of low altitude aerial sensing applications was developed. solar UAV for the objective of low altitude aerial sensing applications was developed. The
Recommended publications
  • Mini Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAV) - a Review of the Parameters for Classification of a Mini AU V

    Mini Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAV) - a Review of the Parameters for Classification of a Mini AU V

    International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace Volume 7 Issue 3 Article 5 2020 Mini Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAV) - A Review of the Parameters for Classification of a Mini AU V. Ramesh PS Lovely Professional University, [email protected] Muruga Lal Jeyan Lovely professional university, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/ijaaa Part of the Aeronautical Vehicles Commons Scholarly Commons Citation PS, R., & Jeyan, M. L. (2020). Mini Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAV) - A Review of the Parameters for Classification of a Mini AU V.. International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.15394/ijaaa.2020.1503 This Literature Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PS and Jeyan: Parameters for Classification of a Mini UAV. The advent of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has redefined the battle space due to the ability to perform tasks which are categorised as dull, dirty, and dangerous. UAVs re-designated as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are now being developed to provide cost effective efficient solutions for specific applications, both in the spectrum of military and civilian usage. US Office of the Secretary of Defense (2013) describes UAS as a “system whose components include the necessary equipment, network, and personnel to control an unmanned aircraft.” In an earlier paper, US Office of the Secretary of Defense (2005) specifies UAV as the airborne element of the UAS and defines UAV as “A powered, aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or non-lethal payload.” John (2010) provided an excellent historical perspective about the evolution of the UAVs.
  • Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Flight

    Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Flight

    Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Flight PEIMS Code: N1304670 Abbreviation: PRINUAV Grade Level(s): 10-12 Award of Credit: 1.0 Approved Innovative Course • Districts must have local board approval to implement innovative courses. • In accordance with Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §74.27, school districts must provide instruction in all essential knowledge and skills identified in this innovative course. • Innovative courses may only satisfy elective credit toward graduation requirements. • Please refer to TAC §74.13 for guidance on endorsements. Course Description: The Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Flight course is designed to prepare students for entry-level employment or continuing education in piloting UAV operations. Principles of UAV is designed to instruct students in UAV flight navigation, industry laws and regulations, and safety regulations. Students are also exposed to mission planning procedures, environmental factors, and human factors involved in the UAV industry. Essential Knowledge and Skills: (a) General Requirements. This course is recommended for students in Grades 10-12. Recommended prerequisite: Principles of Transportation Systems. Students shall be awarded one credit for successful completion of this course. (b) Introduction (1) The Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics Career Cluster focuses on planning, management, and movement of people, materials, and goods by road, pipeline, air, rail, and water and related professional support services such as transportation infrastructure planning and management, logistics services, mobile equipment, and facility maintenance. (2) The Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Flight course is designed to prepare students for entry-level employment or continuing education in piloting UAV operations. Principles of UAV is designed to instruct students in UAV flight navigation, industry laws and regulations, and safety regulations.
  • Solar Aircraft Design

    Solar Aircraft Design

    Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen Fakültesi Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Science Fen Bilimleri Dergisi (CFD), Cilt:36, No: 3 Özel Sayı (2015) Science Journal (CSJ), Vol. 36, No: 3 Special Issue (2015) ISSN: 1300-1949 ISSN: 1300-1949 SOLAR AIRCRAFT DESIGN Sadegh RAHMATI1,*, Amir GHASED2 1,2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Majlesi Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Received: 01.02.2015; Accepted: 05.05.2015 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract. Generally domain Aircraft uses conventional fuel. These fuel having limited life, high cost and pollutant. Also nowadays price of petrol and other fuels are going to be higher, because of scarcity of those fuels. So there is great demand of use of non-exhaustible unlimited source of energy like solar energy. Solar aircraft is one of the ways to utilize solar energy. Solar aircraft uses solar panel to collect the solar radiation for immediate use but it also store the remaining part for the night flight. This paper intended to stimulate research on renewable energy sources for aviation. In future solar powered air planes could be used for different types of aerial momitoring and unmanned flights. This review paper brietly shows history, application and use of solar aircraft. We are focusing on design and fabrication of solar aircraft which is unmanned prototype. Keywords: Solar energy, Reynolds number, Bernoulli’s principle 1. INTRODUCTION Energy comes in different forms. Light is a form of energy. Sun is source of energy called “sunlight”. Sunshine is free and never gets used up Also. There is a lot of it. The sunlight that heats the Earth in an hour has more energy than the people of the world use in a year.
  • Hybrid Energy Storage System

    Hybrid Energy Storage System

    Hybrid Energy Storage System • Hybrid inverter Model : E5 • 6.0 kWh Li-ion Battery Model : BX_6.0 • Smart monitor Model : R4 • Power meter Model : P1E / P3E www.solar-inverter.com Hybrid inverter Solar cell The hybrid inverter can power household loads. The rest power can charge to battery or feed-in to grid. At nighttime, it can adjust electricity and make it possible to charge battery from grid. Battery 6 kWh high capacity Li-ion battery can provide power and by storing solar energy at daytime for nighttime use. DC Power meter Smart meter can calculate power consumption and feed-in to grid. It also can calculate how much power purchased from utility company at daytime and nighttime. Distribution panel Smart monitor DC Owner can simply read power produced, power consumption and convert and control to different operation modes via AC smart monitor. System diagram The Hybrid E5 energy storage system is composed of the single phase E5 hybrid inverter Distribution Panel as well as an external battery cabinet equipped with a 6 kWh Li-ion battery, a power meter and smart monitor. The Hybrid E5 storage system is designed for new PV systems and features a high charging efficiency up to 97%. This is made possible since the E5 inverter can send DC E5 hybrid inverter electricity generated by the PV system directly to the battery, without additional power conversion Power Meter steps or equipment needed. Because the E5 inverter and battery cabinet ship as two separate compact pieces in the system, greater flexibility and simplified installation of the equipment are an added benefit.
  • Solar in Bozeman

    Solar in Bozeman

    Solar in Bozeman This guide provides information about harnessing the as well as the roof. Assess which areas are shaded by sun to power and heat your home along with City of neighboring buildings and trees or other impediments to Bozeman basic policies and guidelines. sunlight. Consider changes in sunlight access between seasons; a tree with a heavy leaf canopy in the summer will WHY SOLAR IN BOZEMAN? reduce the effectiveness of a solar array that is only shaded Bozeman averages 320 days a year in which the sun shines by bare branches in the winter. Think beyond your property for at least part of the day, making solar power a viable and visit with your neighboring property owners about method for reducing our community’s dependence on non- future landscaping and building plans. Note that the City of renewable energy to heat and power our buildings. Bozeman ordinances do not prevent adjacent landowners from planting trees or constructing buildings that may shade TYPES OF SOLAR TECHNOLOGY your solar energy equipment. For those choosing to harness the sun’s energy, there are two types of solar technology. AESTHETICS It is important to consider the aesthetics of a solar power Passive solar technologies reduce the need to system before installation. Flush mounted systems, such mechanically heat and cool a structure and can often as PV systems, are the least aesthetically obtrusive and be achieved by considering site conditions of a property only sit about four inches above roofing shingles. Physically during the initial or remodel design phase. For example, supported solar systems, such as solar thermal systems, can a home might be designed with a large bank of windows range in height and might negatively affect the height, mass facing south and west so that the sun can heat these and scale of a structure.
  • Encapsulation of Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells: a Review

    Encapsulation of Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells: a Review

    Review Encapsulation of Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells: A Review Ashraf Uddin *, Mushfika Baishakhi Upama, Haimang Yi and Leiping Duan School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia; [email protected] (M.B.U.); [email protected] (H.Y.); [email protected] (L.D.) * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 29 November 2018; Accepted: 21 January 2019; Published: 23 January 2019 Abstract: Photovoltaic is one of the promising renewable sources of power to meet the future challenge of energy need. Organic and perovskite thin film solar cells are an emerging cost‐effective photovoltaic technology because of low‐cost manufacturing processing and their light weight. The main barrier of commercial use of organic and perovskite solar cells is the poor stability of devices. Encapsulation of these photovoltaic devices is one of the best ways to address this stability issue and enhance the device lifetime by employing materials and structures that possess high barrier performance for oxygen and moisture. The aim of this review paper is to find different encapsulation materials and techniques for perovskite and organic solar cells according to the present understanding of reliability issues. It discusses the available encapsulate materials and their utility in limiting chemicals, such as water vapour and oxygen penetration. It also covers the mechanisms of mechanical degradation within the individual layers and solar cell as a whole, and possible obstacles to their application in both organic and perovskite solar cells. The contemporary understanding of these degradation mechanisms, their interplay, and their initiating factors (both internal and external) are also discussed.
  • Optimal Control of a Helicopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

    Optimal Control of a Helicopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

    Scholars' Mine Masters Theses Student Theses and Dissertations 2011 Optimal control of a helicopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) David John Nodland Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses Part of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons Department: Recommended Citation Nodland, David John, "Optimal control of a helicopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)" (2011). Masters Theses. 5417. https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/5417 This thesis is brought to you by Scholars' Mine, a service of the Missouri S&T Library and Learning Resources. This work is protected by U. S. Copyright Law. Unauthorized use including reproduction for redistribution requires the permission of the copyright holder. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i ii OPTIMAL CONTROL OF A HELICOPTER UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV) by DAVID JOHN NODLAND A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the MISSOURI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 2011 Approved by Jagannathan Sarangapani, Advisor Kelvin T. Erickson Maciej Zawodniok iii iii PUBLICATION THESIS OPTION This thesis consists of the following two papers: paper 1, pages 10-57, D. Nodland, H. Zargarzadeh, and S. Jagannathan, “Neural Network-based Optimal Output Feedback Control for Trajectory Tracking of a Helicopter UAV,” to be submitted to IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, and paper 2, pages 58-91, D. Nodland, A. Ghosh, H. Zargarzadeh, and S. Jagannathan, “Neuro-Optimal Control of an Unmanned Helicopter,” in Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation Special Issue: Intelligent Behaviors in Military Unmanned Systems, 2012, to appear.
  • History of Solar Flight July 2008

    History of Solar Flight July 2008

    History of Solar Flight July 2008 solar airplane aircraft continuous sustainable flight solar-powered solar cells mppt helios Sky-Sailor sun-powered HALE platform solaire avion vol continu dévelopement durable énergie solaire cellules plateforme History of Solar flight André Noth, [email protected] Autonomous Systems Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich 1. The conjunction of two pioneer fields, electric flight and solar cells The use of electric power for flight vehicles propulsion is not new. The first one was the hydrogen- filled dirigible France in year 1884 that won a 10 km race around Villacoulbay and Medon. At this time, the electric system was superior to its only rival, the steam engine but then with the arrival of gasoline engines, work on electrical propulsion for air vehicles was abandoned and the field lay dormant for almost a century [2]. On the 30th June 1957, Colonel H. J. Taplin of the United Kingdom made the first officially recorded electric powered radio controlled flight with his model “Radio Queen”, which used a permanent-magnet motor and a silver-zinc battery. Unfortunately, he didn’t carry on these experiments. Further developments in the field came from the great German pioneer, Fred Militky, who first achieved a successful flight with a Radio Queen, 1957 free flight model in October 1957. Since this premises, electric flight continuously evolved with constant improvements in the fields of motors and batteries [12]. Three years before Taplin and Militky’s experiments, in 1954, photovoltaic technology was born at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson developed the first silicon photovoltaic cell capable of converting enough of the sun’s energy into power to run everyday electrical Gerald Pearson, Daryl Chapin equipment.
  • Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS): Regulatory Framework and Challenges

    Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS): Regulatory Framework and Challenges

    Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS): regulatory framework and challenges NAM/CAR/SAM Civil - Military Cooperation Havana, Cuba, 13 – 17 April 2015 Overview • Background • Objective • UAV? • Assumptions • Challenges • Regulatory Framework • UAS in ATM System • Emerging Situational Technologies • Recommendations Background Can an UAS operate in controlled airspace? Which technologies can be used to reduce the impact? UAS in civil applications Improve the regulations for UAS operations ICAO Global ATM operational concept (Doc 9854) UAV: “[a]n unmanned aerial vehicle is a pilotless aircraft, in the sense of Article 8 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which is flown without a pilot-in-command on-board and is either remotely and fully controlled from another place (ground, another aircraft, space) or programmed and fully autonomous.” Objective • This presentation provides an overview of the regulatory frameworks for the UAS activities and how to ensure safe operations in the ATS system. • It also addresses regional coordination between States and other stakeholders for UAS operations during natural disaster events. • It explains future challenges of the UAS into the ATM system. 6 Assumptions UAS is another user of the airspace The ATM should be able to allow the UAS operations The activities should include both civil and military air operations The first step is regulatory framework for the UAS in order to ensure safety integrated operations into the ATM system States to disseminate ATS procedures for UAS air operations UAVs applications Demand of RPAS for Military & civil operations International Military operations SAR, Coastguard / coastline and sea-lane monitoring Fire Services and Forestry Fire detection, incident control Owners / operators of model aircraft doing to commercial activity Many non-aviation businesses and entities importing RPAS Aerial photography, Film, video, still, etc.
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operating Mode Classification Using Deep

    Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operating Mode Classification Using Deep

    aerospace Article Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operating Mode Classification Using Deep Residual Learning Feature Extraction Carolyn J. Swinney 1,2,* and John C. Woods 1 1 Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Department, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK; [email protected] 2 Air and Space Warfare Centre, Royal Air Force Waddington, Lincoln LN5 9NB, UK * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) undoubtedly pose many security challenges. We need only look to the December 2018 Gatwick Airport incident for an example of the disruption UAVs can cause. In total, 1000 flights were grounded for 36 h over the Christmas period which was estimated to cost over 50 million pounds. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach which considers UAV detection as an imagery classification problem. We consider signal representations Power Spectral Density (PSD); Spectrogram, Histogram and raw IQ constellation as graphical images presented to a deep Convolution Neural Network (CNN) ResNet50 for feature extraction. Pre-trained on ImageNet, transfer learning is utilised to mitigate the requirement for a large signal dataset. We evaluate performance through machine learning classifier Logistic Regression. Three popular UAVs are classified in different modes; switched on; hovering; flying; flying with video; and no UAV present, creating a total of 10 classes. Our results, validated with 5-fold cross validation and an independent dataset, show PSD representation to produce over 91% accuracy for 10 classifications. Our paper treats UAV detection as an imagery classification problem by presenting signal representations as images to a ResNet50, utilising the benefits of transfer learning and outperforming previous work in the field.
  • Solar Electric Power -- the U.S. Photovoltaic Industry Roadmap

    Solar Electric Power -- the U.S. Photovoltaic Industry Roadmap

    CONTRIBUTORS U.S. Photovoltaic Industry Roadmap Steering Committee • Allen Barnett, AstroPower, Inc. • Larry Crowley (retired), formerly with Idaho Power • J. Michael Davis, Avista Labs • Chet Farris, Siemens Solar Industries • Harvey Forest (retired), formerly with Solarex Corp. • Glenn Hamer, Solar Energy Industries Association • Lionel Kimerling, Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Roger Little, Spire Corporation • Michael Paranzino, Solar Energy Industries Association • William Roppenecker (retired), formerly with Trace Engineering • Richard Schwartz, Purdue University • Harry Shimp, BP Solar • Scott Sklar, The Stella Group, Ltd.; formerly with SEIA Roadmap Workshop Participants • National Center for Photovoltaics: Workshop on PV Program Strategic Direction, July 14-15, 1997 (Golden, Colorado) • U.S. Photovoltaics Industry PV Technology Roadmap Workshop, June 23-25, 1999 (Chicago, Illinois) • PV Roadmap Conference, December 13-14, 2000 (Dallas, Texas) SOLAR-ELECTRIC POWER THE U.S. PHOTOVOLTAIC INDUSTRY ROADMAP “…providing the electricity consumer with competitive and environmentally friendly energy products and services from a thriving United States-based solar-electric power industry.” Reprinted January 2003 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1. Introducing the Photovoltaic Industry Roadmap … Full Speed Ahead........................5 Chapter 2. PV's Value to Customers and the Nation … Why Travel the
  • Concentrating Solar Power: Energy from Mirrors

    Concentrating Solar Power: Energy from Mirrors

    DOE/GO-102001-1147 FS 128 March 2001 Concentrating Solar Power: Energy from Mirrors Mirror mirror on the wall, what's the The southwestern United States is focus- greatest energy source of all? The sun. ing on concentrating solar energy because Enough energy from the sun falls on the it's one of the world's best areas for sun- Earth everyday to power our homes and light. The Southwest receives up to twice businesses for almost 30 years. Yet we've the sunlight as other regions in the coun- only just begun to tap its potential. You try. This abundance of solar energy makes may have heard about solar electric power concentrating solar power plants an attrac- to light homes or solar thermal power tive alternative to traditional power plants, used to heat water, but did you know there which burn polluting fossil fuels such as is such a thing as solar thermal-electric oil and coal. Fossil fuels also must be power? Electric utility companies are continually purchased and refined to use. using mirrors to concentrate heat from the sun to produce environmentally friendly Unlike traditional power plants, concen- electricity for cities, especially in the trating solar power systems provide an southwestern United States. environmentally benign source of energy, produce virtually no emissions, and con- Photo by Hugh Reilly, Sandia National Laboratories/PIX02186 Photo by Hugh Reilly, This concentrating solar power tower system — known as Solar Two — near Barstow, California, is the world’s largest central receiver plant. This document was produced for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a DOE national laboratory.