A Biologically Based Chemo-Sensing UAV for Humanitarian Demining

Sergi Bermúdez I Badia, Ulysses Bernardet, Alexis Guanella, Pawel Pyk, Paul F.m.j. Verschure

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Antipersonnel mines, weapons of cheap manufacture but lethal effect, have a high impact on the population even decades after the conflicts have finished. Here we investigate the use of a chemo-sensing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (cUAV) for demining tasks. We developed a blimp based UAV that is equipped with a broadly tuned metal-thin oxide chemo-sensor. A number of chemical mapping strategies were investigated including two biologically based localization strategies derived from the moth chemical search that can optimize the efficiency of the detection and localization of explosives and therefore be used in the demining process. Additionally, we developed a control layer that allows for both fully autonomous and manual controlled flight, as well as for the scheduling of a fleet of cUAVs. Our results confirm the feasibility of this technology for demining in real-world scenarios and give further support to a biologically based approach where the understanding of biological systems is used to solve difficult engineering problems.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)187-198
JournalInternational Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems
Volume4
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2007

Bibliographical note

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).

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