yaw) on three axes/dimensions, as well as
change velocity on the aircrafts’ three axes
and in the three spatial dimensions. They
can change directions at zero airspeed and
at negative airspeeds – moving backwards.
These characteristics enable these UAVs
to perform hover pitch maneuvers that en-
able them to land and take off from unpre-
pared terrains including from sloped ter-
rains (no need for flat horizontal surfaces
or runways),something that no helicopter
or other aircraft can perform.
“We developed techniques that allow our
vehicles to turn and twist, move, and ro-
tate,” said Dr. Ramirez-Serrano. “Associat-
ed to that, there are also other techniques
to navigate in a confined space. When
you fly in confined spaces, the propeller’s
downwash (the downward deflection of
an airstream by an aircraft wing or helicop-
ter rotor blade) bounces off the wall, the
ground and the ceiling, and that is push-
ing and sucking the vehicle. So we have
developed control techniques that the ve-
hicle uses to forecast the downwash ef-
fects and automatically compensate for
such disturbances.”
JULY 2015
H
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