Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Beyond Line Of Sight … · 2016. 11. 21. · Remotely...
Transcript of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Beyond Line Of Sight … · 2016. 11. 21. · Remotely...
Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Beyond Line Of Sight (BLOS)
Applications
Royal Aeronautical Society HQ Lecture
11 March 2015
Dr Joseph Barnard [email protected]
Barnard Microsystems Limited Unit 4, 44 – 54 Coleridge Road
London N8 8ED U.K.
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RPAS BLOS applications • Oil, gas and mineral
geophysical survey work
• Oil pipeline and linear infrastructure monitoring
• Land and maritime border patrol
• Small cargo operations
RPAS VLOS Applications
AUVSI March 2015
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Remotely Piloted Aircraft System BLOS applications We will consider civilian RPA, as shown here, operating Beyond Line Of Sight in: • Oil, gas and mineral geophysical survey (“GS”) work • Oil pipeline and linear infrastructure monitoring • Land and maritime border patrol • Small cargo operations • Financial aspects
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In a geomagnetic survey, the Users want a mapping of the Earth’s magnetic field.
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In a geomagnetic survey, the User wants a mapping of the Earth’s magnetic field.
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How are airborne Geomagnetic Surveys (“GS”) performed today?
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In an airborne GS, the aircraft need to fly from 20m to 80m Above Ground Level...
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From a presentation by James Macnae at SEG 2006
One would also like the survey to be performed at night • when the electrical and magnetic noise levels are lowest.
Quiet period from midnight to noon
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So why not use a Remotely Piloted Aircraft to perform a geophysical survey?
The GeoRanger was based on the InSitu ScanEagle, and was used in
geomagnetic surveys in Canada.
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An RPA operating BLOS in a remote area needs a satcoms data relay link This is what is referred to as the Remotely Piloted Aircraft SYSTEM
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The sensors carried on an RPA engaged in a geophysical survey can be expensive The crash of an RPA carrying these expensive sensors will clearly impact the business case: a Headwall HyperSpec SWIR hyperspectral camera costs around $ 95,000
two Scintrex CS-3SL Cesium beam magnetometers, each costing $ 20,200
A Reigl VUX-1 geophysical survey grade LIDAR unit costs in the region of € 85,000
RPA survivability is critical: we need a reliable RPA, and a robust and adaptive autopilot.
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Remotely Piloted Aircraft System BLOS applications We will consider civilian RPA, as shown here, operating Beyond Line Of Sight in: • Oil, gas and mineral geophysical survey work • Oil pipeline and linear infrastructure monitoring (“PM”) • Land and maritime border patrol • Small cargo operations • Financial aspects
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An oil and gas production service involves the monitoring of oil and gas pipelines
The User needs to: • routinely monitor several 100+ km
stretches of oil pipeline;
• at least once every 2 weeks;
• and detect and identify people, vehicles and other nearby objects.
Above: timely (within 15 minutes) detection of an oil leak from a pipeline contributes to a societal benefit associated with reduced environmental pollution.
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Above: timely (within 15 minutes) detection of an oil leak from a pipeline contributes to a societal benefit associated with reduced environmental pollution.
The User needs to: • routinely monitor several 100+ km
stretches of oil pipeline;
• at least once every 2 weeks;
• and detect and identify people, vehicles and other nearby objects.
An oil and gas production service involves the monitoring of oil and gas pipelines
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In PM, the User needs to be notified of vehicles and people in the Right of Way
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The oil pipeline must be monitored at times in extreme climatic conditions
Part of the Trans Alaska Pipeline
Severe weather conditions in the Arctic: total darkness (in winter time)
temperatures: drop to -40°C
spray icing (wing icing)
snow and ice
In North Africa and in the Middle East, an unmanned aircraft could encounter: temperatures that reach +50°C fine dust
abrasive sand storms. Pipeline in Saudi Arabia
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High performance, commercially available, sensors are typically used.
Side looking photo from an aircraft travelling at 30 mph, with no image enhancement.
Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR camera body
8,688 x 5,792 Pixels = 50.3 MPixels
computer interface and control via USB 2
price > £ 3,500
Canon EF 70 - 200mm f/2.8L IS zoom lens
viewing angle = 10° x 7° at 200mm
4 stop image stabilisation
price = £ 1,671
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How are pipeline monitoring services performed today?
PM in Saudi Arabia
PM in Nigeria
PM in the USA
PM in Azerbaijan
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An RPA operating BLOS needs a single hop satellite based data relay link. This is the RPA SYSTEM for use in BLOS oil pipeline monitoring work.
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Remotely Piloted Aircraft BLOS applications We will consider civilian RPA, as shown here, operating Beyond Line Of Sight in: • Oil, gas and mineral geophysical survey work • Oil pipeline and linear infrastructure monitoring • Land and maritime border patrol • Small cargo operations • Financial aspects
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The satcoms terminal must support a data rate in excess of 8 Mbit/sec in order to relay high definition video on demand. Example of a satellite communications dish on a large military RPA: in this case, a General Atomics Predator.
In border patrol work, the RPA needs to use a high data rate satcoms terminal.
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The high data rate satcoms terminal is used to relay real time video from the RPA.
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In land and maritime border patrol work: • An RPA on border patrol will typically fly at 8,000 to 12,000 feet above Mean Sea Level
• A L band satcoms terminal, such as the Cobham SB 200 terminal shown on the left hand
side, is used to relay lower data rate mission critical Command and Control data.
• A high data rate satcoms unit, such as the $350,000 Viasat terminal shown on the right hand side, is needed to relay the payload high definition video data.
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The Ka band satcoms unit is used in addition to the C2 link L band terminal...
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Remotely Piloted Aircraft BLOS applications • Oil, gas and mineral geophysical survey work • Oil pipeline and linear infrastructure monitoring • Land and maritime border patrol • Small cargo operations • Financial aspects
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Small cargo operations Developing industry targets • < $3,000 per platform • < 60¢ per km per 10 kg package • Small cargoes of around 20 kg • warehouse to village ready • Swissair, FedEx and others are interested
- from The Flying Donkey Competition
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Remotely Piloted Aircraft System BLOS applications We will consider civilian RPA, as shown here, operating Beyond Line Of Sight in: • Oil, gas and mineral geophysical survey work • Oil pipeline and linear infrastructure monitoring • Land and maritime border patrol • Small cargo operations • Financial aspects
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Estimated price for a suitable RPA with 4 kg payload and 700 km range.
4 kg x 700 km = 2,800 kg.km and price = 0.921 * 2,800^0.6 = $ 108k FY_02 = $ 131.5k FY_10
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The cost of Remotely Piloted Aircraft systems versus the cost of a light aircraft
Cessna aircraft: prices scaled to FY_02
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“Human error causes most Predator crashes” Air Force researcher finds that biggest problem is operator mistakes.
Above: Col. Charles W. Manley, commander of the 163d Maintenance Group,163d Reconnaissance Wing, pilots a training simulator for the Air Force's MQ-1 Predator at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, Calif., in June. Research shows that most Predator mishaps are the result of: • inadequate skills • lack of teamwork • lack of situational awareness.
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From presentation by Dubi Lavi at AUVSI Israel Chapter Conference, 20-23 March 2012.
Even with training, human error remains a notable cause of RPA crashes
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Rockwell Collins have demonstrated the use of real time adaptive flight control
to continue flying, and then landing, a severely damaged model aircraft.
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Conclusions • Most of the requirements for remotely piloted aircraft operating BLOS in oil, gas and
mineral exploration and production activities can be achieved with current technology.
• One needs to exercise caution in the business case, and especially with the capital cost of remotely piloted aircraft in the light of the Non Recurring Engineering costs.
• More and more companies and Government Organizations are becoming interested in the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems in their day to day operations.
• HOWEVER, one requirement that occurs almost without exception in BLOS operations
in un-segregated air space is the need for a reliable collision detect and avoid system. I can be contacted at [email protected] Acknowledgements Much of this work was supported by: • the U.K. Technology Strategy Board in the form of the INMARA Intelligent Machine
Reasoning and Action Proof of Concept Project, TSB Reference number 710158, and • the UASatCom Feasibility Study, contract number 4000103768, and the SURMON Demo
Project, contract number 4000107665, both supported by the European Space Agency.