Hexa-Propeller Airship for Environmental Surveillance and Monitoring in Amazon Rainforest

Azinheira, José; Carvalho, Reginaldo; Paiva, Ely; Cordeiro, Rafael

doi:10.3390/aerospace11040249

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Hexa-Propeller Airship for Environmental Surveillance and Monitoring in Amazon Rainforest

¹

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal

²

Institute of Computing, Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), Av. General Rodrigo Octavio Jordão Ramos, 1200-Coroado I, Manaus 69067-005, AM, Brazil

³

School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Campinas (Unicamp), R. Mendeleyev, 200, Campinas 13083-860, SP, Brazil

⁴

Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of Espirito Santo (UFES), Av. Fernando Ferrari, 514-Goiabeiras, Vitória 29075-910, ES, Brazil

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Aerospace 2024, 11(4), 249; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11040249

Submission received: 17 February 2024 / Revised: 16 March 2024 / Accepted: 18 March 2024 / Published: 22 March 2024

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mission Analysis and Design of Lighter-than-Air Flying Vehicles (2nd Edition))

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Abstract

This paper proposes a new kind of airship actuator configuration for surveillance and environmental monitoring missions. We present the design and application of a six-propeller electrical airship (Noamini) with independent tilting propellers, allowing improved and flexible maneuverability. The vehicle has different combinations of differential propulsion and can be used in a two-, four- or six-motor configuration. We developed a high-fidelity airship simulator for the Noamini airship, which was used to test and validate a control/guidance approach. Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) is used for the velocity/attitude control to follow a high-level L1 guidance reference in a simulated waypoint-tracking mission with wind and turbulence. The proposed framework will be soon implemented in the onboard control system of the Noamini, an autonomous airship for environmental monitoring and surveillance applications.

Keywords: airship; unmanned aerial vehicles; autonomous control system; environmental monitoring; robotic vehicles

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MDPI and ACS Style

Azinheira, J.; Carvalho, R.; Paiva, E.; Cordeiro, R. Hexa-Propeller Airship for Environmental Surveillance and Monitoring in Amazon Rainforest. Aerospace 2024, 11, 249. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11040249

AMA Style

Azinheira J, Carvalho R, Paiva E, Cordeiro R. Hexa-Propeller Airship for Environmental Surveillance and Monitoring in Amazon Rainforest. Aerospace. 2024; 11(4):249. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11040249

Chicago/Turabian Style

Azinheira, José, Reginaldo Carvalho, Ely Paiva, and Rafael Cordeiro. 2024. "Hexa-Propeller Airship for Environmental Surveillance and Monitoring in Amazon Rainforest" Aerospace 11, no. 4: 249. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11040249

APA Style

Azinheira, J., Carvalho, R., Paiva, E., & Cordeiro, R. (2024). Hexa-Propeller Airship for Environmental Surveillance and Monitoring in Amazon Rainforest. Aerospace, 11(4), 249. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11040249

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Hexa-Propeller Airship for Environmental Surveillance and Monitoring in Amazon Rainforest

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