Autonomous Control Technology for Unmanned Aerial Systems with Agricultural and Environmental Applications in Central Pacific Islands

The goal of this project is to create a real-time and autonomous control technology for unmanned aerial systems with agricultural and environmental applications in Central Pacific Islands. To achieve the proposed goal, the objectives are (1) to create and validate integrated targeting, guidance, navigation and control (TGNC) framework and software algorithms for an onboard implementation, and (2) to develop and disseminate educational courses and outreach activities in the design and development of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) with applications to Earth sciences in the Central Pacific Islands. These objectives are accomplished by the following research and educational tasks: 1) Demonstrate and simulate new analytical and/or numerical trajectory and attitude solutions, and an autonomous and target-relative guidance scheme utilizing the instantaneous screw motion (ISM) invariants to perform various maneuvers and tasks of interest; 2) Establish a new, high- fidelity computational framework of a hierarchical mixture of experts (HME) utilizing a new sensor data fusion technology to obtain real-time navigation solutions; 3) Integrate TGNC framework and software algorithms for agricultural and environmental applications in the Central Pacific Islands, namely the Hawai’ian Islands Oahu, Maui, Lanai and Kauai, and in Marshall Islands and Guam; and 4) Develop and disseminate educational curriculums for courses in flight dynamics and control, and in UAS design and development for the Earth sciences applications, including the proposed agricultural and environmental applications. The proposal titled “Autonomous Control Technology for Unmanned Aerial Systems with Agricultural and Environmental Applications in Central Pacific Islands” is to be submitted in response to 2017 NASA EPSCoR CAN Announcement. The proposed work will be performed in collaboration with partners in Maui, Lanai and Kauai Islands of the State of Hawai’i and with the College of Marshall Islands and the University of Guam. The proposed work addresses the topics of the Engineering Research priority areas of the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). The areas of expertise required for the research are flight mechanics, theory of estimation, guidance, navigation and control for unmanned aerial systems, and their integration into the national airspace and utility in a wide range of applications. The Science-PI of the proposed project is Dr. Dilmurat Azimov, an Assistant Professor of the University of Hawai’i (UH) at Manoa. The Science-Co-I is Dr. Trevor Sorensen, a specialist of UH-Manoa Hawai’i Space Flight Laboratory. Potential peer reviewers: 1. Dr. Phil McGillivary, USCG PACAREA & Icebreaker Science Liaison Tel: 510-469-5056 (cell) / 510-437-5355 (work) Email: Philip.a.mcgillivary@uscg.mil 2. Dr. Andre Doumitt, Director, Advanced Programs, Aerospace Corporation, LA, CA. Tel: 310.721.2547 (work) Email: adoumitt@digitaladopxion.com 3. Dr. Michael C. Hatfield, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Director for Science & Education, Alaska Center for UAS Integration (ACUASI) Tel: 937.432.5065 (cell) Email: mchatfield@alaska.edu

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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