Date of Award

1-1-2014

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Organizational Unit

Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science

First Advisor

Matthew J. Rutherford, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Kimon Valavanis

Third Advisor

Nikolaos Vitzilaios

Fourth Advisor

Mohammad Mahoor

Keywords

Autonomous, Mobile robot, Self-leveling, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Vehicle take off landing

Abstract

This thesis presents a semi-autonomous mobile self-leveling landing platform designed to launch, recover and re-launch VTOL UAVs without the need for human intervention. The landing platform is rugged, lightweight and inexpensive, making it ideal for civilian applications that require a base station from which a rotorcraft UAV can be launched and recovered on terrain that is normally unsuitable for UAV operations. This landing platform is capable of self-leveling on rough terrain and inclined slopes, and can autonomously operate in remote locations for extended periods of time using large onboard lithium batteries and wireless communication. This thesis discusses the unique design aspects of this landing platform that set it apart from similar systems, describes the prototype vehicle, and shows experimental results to demonstrate the system is fully functional and meets all the primary design requirements

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Stephen Austin Conyers

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

74 p.

Discipline

Engineering, Mechanical engineering, Electrical engineering

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