CSIRO is developing technologies supporting the safe, reliable, and cost effective operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for scientific and civilian applications.
Our UAS research focuses on small helicopters.
Helicopters have advantages including:
- low weight
- high manoeuvrability
- able to hover and travel at low speed
- capable of taking off and landing almost anywhere.
UASs were formerly known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Current activities
Using a thoroughly proven model helicopter as our base, we are developing UAVs that:
- require one operator, at most
- are easy for a non-expert to use
- can fly out of sight of the operator and in unknown, cluttered environments
- do not endanger other aircraft in general, non-segregated airspace
- can fly in turbulent conditions (typical of almost any outdoor application) and in Australian weather conditions
- are dependable and capable of many flights.
CSIRO is joint venture partner with Queensland University of Technology in the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation.
We have fitted our UAV with a:
- stereo vision camera and scanning laser to build a three dimensional map of the environment
- probabilistic planner that plots a path to the target and updates as new obstacles are detected
- inertial and global positioning systems to accurately determine its position and attitude in the air.
Applications
We are investigating the use of UAVs for applications such as:
- remote inspection of infrastructure such as powerlines, buildings and bridges
- environmental data collection
- crop monitoring
- low-altitude atmospheric research
- aerospace automation research.
Partners
CSIRO is joint venture partner with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA).
Beyond encouraging research and providing training opportunities, ARCAA also promotes the development of civilian applications for UAVs, such as search and rescue.
Under the auspices of ARCAA, CSIRO is working with Boeing Research and Technology Australia on the Smart Skies project. This three-year program is researching technologies that will support the safe and efficient sharing of airspace by manned and unmanned aircraft.
By 2011 we hope to have our autonomous helicopter, QUT’s fixed-wing UAV, a manned fixed-wing aircraft and a large number of simulated aircraft all operating in the same sector of controlled airspace.
Read more about the technical details of our work in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) [external link].
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