Wind-Velocity Estimation for Enhanced UAV Path Planning and Control

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as fixed-wing and quadcotor UAVs, are increasingly being used for a variety of tasks, including data collection in the agricultural and construction sectors, search and rescue missions, surveillance missions, and delivery. An estimate of the surrounding wind velocity can be used to improve UAV guidance and control when executing one of the aforementioned tasks. The focus of this talk is how to estimate wind velocity in addition to UAV position, velocity, and attitude within a state estimation framework. In particular, the wind velocity will be estimated in “tightly coupled” manner meaning the wind velocity and UAV position, velocity, and attitude are all estimated simultaneously. Using the resultant wind velocity estimate within guidance and control loops will also be discussed.

James Richard Forbes received the B.A.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering (Honours, Co-op) from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, and the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), Toronto, ON, Canada, in 2008 and 2011, respectively. James is currently Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.