| Research Abstract |
Recently, the usefulness and the performance of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are spotlighted and many studies have been published. The study also has been conducted in our laboratory, and an UAV simulator had developed until 2004 In order to fly the UAV a longer time, the oil supply in air is currently under study The operator can remotely control the UAV by watching the state of the UAV in the monitor screen, however, the figure in the screen is two-dimensional, therefore it is difficult to operate three-dimensional works like the oil supply in air. The purpose of this study is to visualize the vehicles in a three-dimensional space. We call these miniature aircraft as a SMS (Scale Model Simulator). As the operator can watch the movement of UAVs both in the monitor screen and in the three-dimensional space, the operation will become easier The oil acceptor UAV has large freedom to fly in the air, while the movement of the oil supplier UAV is relatively limited, therefore the former
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is designed by employing a 6-link manipulator, and the latter a 5-link manipulator. Both aircraft are attached at the end link of manipulators, and are given two degree of rotational freedom, which enables both aircraft to move in 6 DOF (Degree Of Freedom) motion.
In 2005, the admissible space of the movement of both aircraft are designed at first. Next, the first manipulator is designed. At this stage, there is no actual manipulator is manufactured, the graphic simulator of the first aircraft of the SMS is developed and the study is conducted by mathematical simulations. The structural design, the control system design are also conducted, and the performance of the manipulator is assessed and verified. After the initial specification is satisfied and verified by simulations, its trial manufacture is conducted. Many experiments are conducted by employing this manipulator in 2005-2006, and the performance is compared with those of the mathematical simulation results.
In parallel with these studies, the second manipulator is designed, developed and manufactured in 2006-2007. In this initial stage, also the graphic simulator of the second aircraft of the SMS is developed and the study is conducted by mathematical simulations. The structural design, the control system design are also conducted, and the performance of the manipulator is assessed and verified.
The SMS is composed of the UAV simulator and two manipulators, so that the operator can watch the monitor screen of the UAV simulator and the movement of two aircraft attached to two manipulators simultaneously, and remotely control the oil acceptor UAV. Therefore, the interface of these manipulators between the UAV simulator also has to be developed This study and the total system integration is conducted in 2007. Currently, the performance of the SMS is under experiments. Although, there are many items are remained to be improved, however, at least the feasibility of the SMS is shown and the usefulness of the idea is proven.
In the process of these studies, 8 presentations are conducted and proceedings are published in academic conferences and symposia including3 international conferences. Also 3 master theses and 5 bachelor theses are completed.
After the experiments of the oil supply mission is completed, e.g. two vehicles may be replaced from two aircraft to aspace station and a satellite, and the experiment of a remotely controlled rendezvous docking mission can be conducted.This example shows the usefulness of the SMS in many aerospace fields. Less
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