Non-uniform linear array(NULA)configurations are well renowned due to their structural ability for providing increased degrees of freedom(DOF)and wider array aperture than uniform linear arrays(ULAs).These characteris...Non-uniform linear array(NULA)configurations are well renowned due to their structural ability for providing increased degrees of freedom(DOF)and wider array aperture than uniform linear arrays(ULAs).These characteristics play a significant role in improving the direction-of-arrival(DOA)estimation accuracy.However,most of the existing NULA geometries are primarily applicable to circular sources(CSs),while they limitedly improve the DOF and continuous virtual aperture for noncircular sources(NCSs).Toward this purpose,we present a triaddisplaced ULAs(Tdis-ULAs)configuration for NCS.The TdisULAs structure generally consists of three ULAs,which are appropriately placed.The proposed antenna array approach fully exploits the non-circular characteristics of the sources.Given the same number of elements,the Tdis-ULAs design achieves more DOF and larger hole-free co-array aperture than its sparse array competitors.Advantageously,the number of uniform DOF,optimal distribution of elements among the ULAs,and precise element positions are uniquely determined by the closed-form expressions.Moreover,the proposed array also produces a filled resulting co-array.Numerical simulations are conducted to show the performance advantages of the proposed Tdis-ULAs configuration over its counterpart designs.展开更多
The reduced weight and improved efficiency of modern aeronautical structures result in a decreasing separation of frequency ranges of rigid and elastic modes.Particularly,a high-aspect-ratio flexible flying wing is pr...The reduced weight and improved efficiency of modern aeronautical structures result in a decreasing separation of frequency ranges of rigid and elastic modes.Particularly,a high-aspect-ratio flexible flying wing is prone to body freedomflutter(BFF),which is a result of coupling of the rigid body short-periodmodewith 1st wing bendingmode.Accurate prediction of the BFF characteristics is helpful to reflect the attitude changes of the vehicle intuitively and design the active flutter suppression control law.Instead of using the rigid body mode,this work simulates the rigid bodymotion of the model by using the six-degree-of-freedom(6DOF)equation.A dynamicmesh generation strategy particularly suitable for BFF simulation of free flying aircraft is developed.An accurate Computational Fluid Dynamics/Computational Structural Dynamics/six-degree-of-freedom equation(CFD/CSD/6DOF)-based BFF prediction method is proposed.Firstly,the time-domain CFD/CSD method is used to calculate the static equilibrium state of the model.Based on this state,the CFD/CSD/6DOF equation is solved in time domain to evaluate the structural response of themodel.Then combinedwith the variable stiffnessmethod,the critical flutter point of the model is obtained.This method is applied to the BFF calculation of a flyingwing model.The calculation results of the BFF characteristics of the model agree well with those fromthe modalmethod andNastran software.Finally,the method is used to analyze the influence factors of BFF.The analysis results show that the flutter speed can be improved by either releasing plunge constraint or moving the center ofmass forward or increasing the pitch inertia.展开更多
Conventional manipulators with rigid structures and sti ness actuators have poor flexibility,limited obstacle avoidance capability,and constrained workspace.Some developed flexible or soft manipulators in recent years...Conventional manipulators with rigid structures and sti ness actuators have poor flexibility,limited obstacle avoidance capability,and constrained workspace.Some developed flexible or soft manipulators in recent years have the characteristics of infinite degrees of freedom,high flexibility,environmental adaptability,and extended manipulation capability.However,these existing manipulators still cannot achieve the shrinking motion and independent control of specified segments like the animals,which hinders their applications.In this paper,a flexible bio-tensegrity manipulator,inspired by the longitudinal and transversal muscles of octopus tentacles,was proposed to mimic the shrinking behavior and achieve the variable motion patterns of each segment.Such proposed manipulator uses the elastic spring as the backbone,which is driven by four cables and has one variable structure mechanism in each segment to achieve the independent control of each segment.The variable structure mechanism innovatively contains seven lock-release states to independently control the bending and shrinking motion of each segment.After the kinematic modeling and analysis,one prototype of such bionic flexible manipulator was built and the open-loop control method was proposed.Some proof-of-concept experiments,including the shrinking motion,bending motion,and variable structure motion,were carried out by controlling the length of four cables and changing the lock-release states of the variable structure mechanism,which validate the feasibility and validity of our proposed prototype.Meanwhile,the experimental results show the flexible manipulator can accomplish the bending and shrinking motion with the relative error less than 6.8%through the simple independent control of each segment using the variable structure mechanism.This proposed manipulator has the features of controllable degree-of-freedom in each segment,which extend their environmental adaptability,and manipulation capability.展开更多
Because of its characteristics of simple algorithm and hardware, optical flow-based motion estimation has become a hot research field, especially in GPS-denied environment. Optical flow could be used to obtain the air...Because of its characteristics of simple algorithm and hardware, optical flow-based motion estimation has become a hot research field, especially in GPS-denied environment. Optical flow could be used to obtain the aircraft motion information, but the six-(degree of freedom)(6-DOF) motion still couldn't be accurately estimated by existing methods. The purpose of this work is to provide a motion estimation method based on optical flow from forward and down looking cameras, which doesn't rely on the assumption of level flight. First, the distribution and decoupling method of optical flow from forward camera are utilized to get attitude. Then, the resulted angular velocities are utilized to obtain the translational optical flow of the down camera, which can eliminate the influence of rotational motion on velocity estimation. Besides, the translational motion estimation equation is simplified by establishing the relation between the depths of feature points and the aircraft altitude. Finally, simulation results show that the method presented is accurate and robust.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(62031017,61971221)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China(NP2020104)。
文摘Non-uniform linear array(NULA)configurations are well renowned due to their structural ability for providing increased degrees of freedom(DOF)and wider array aperture than uniform linear arrays(ULAs).These characteristics play a significant role in improving the direction-of-arrival(DOA)estimation accuracy.However,most of the existing NULA geometries are primarily applicable to circular sources(CSs),while they limitedly improve the DOF and continuous virtual aperture for noncircular sources(NCSs).Toward this purpose,we present a triaddisplaced ULAs(Tdis-ULAs)configuration for NCS.The TdisULAs structure generally consists of three ULAs,which are appropriately placed.The proposed antenna array approach fully exploits the non-circular characteristics of the sources.Given the same number of elements,the Tdis-ULAs design achieves more DOF and larger hole-free co-array aperture than its sparse array competitors.Advantageously,the number of uniform DOF,optimal distribution of elements among the ULAs,and precise element positions are uniquely determined by the closed-form expressions.Moreover,the proposed array also produces a filled resulting co-array.Numerical simulations are conducted to show the performance advantages of the proposed Tdis-ULAs configuration over its counterpart designs.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.11872212)and a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.
文摘The reduced weight and improved efficiency of modern aeronautical structures result in a decreasing separation of frequency ranges of rigid and elastic modes.Particularly,a high-aspect-ratio flexible flying wing is prone to body freedomflutter(BFF),which is a result of coupling of the rigid body short-periodmodewith 1st wing bendingmode.Accurate prediction of the BFF characteristics is helpful to reflect the attitude changes of the vehicle intuitively and design the active flutter suppression control law.Instead of using the rigid body mode,this work simulates the rigid bodymotion of the model by using the six-degree-of-freedom(6DOF)equation.A dynamicmesh generation strategy particularly suitable for BFF simulation of free flying aircraft is developed.An accurate Computational Fluid Dynamics/Computational Structural Dynamics/six-degree-of-freedom equation(CFD/CSD/6DOF)-based BFF prediction method is proposed.Firstly,the time-domain CFD/CSD method is used to calculate the static equilibrium state of the model.Based on this state,the CFD/CSD/6DOF equation is solved in time domain to evaluate the structural response of themodel.Then combinedwith the variable stiffnessmethod,the critical flutter point of the model is obtained.This method is applied to the BFF calculation of a flyingwing model.The calculation results of the BFF characteristics of the model agree well with those fromthe modalmethod andNastran software.Finally,the method is used to analyze the influence factors of BFF.The analysis results show that the flutter speed can be improved by either releasing plunge constraint or moving the center ofmass forward or increasing the pitch inertia.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51705066,51805128)Sichuan Science and Technology Program(Grant No.2019YFG0343)Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China(Grant Nos.ZYGX2019J041,ZYGX2016KYQD137).
文摘Conventional manipulators with rigid structures and sti ness actuators have poor flexibility,limited obstacle avoidance capability,and constrained workspace.Some developed flexible or soft manipulators in recent years have the characteristics of infinite degrees of freedom,high flexibility,environmental adaptability,and extended manipulation capability.However,these existing manipulators still cannot achieve the shrinking motion and independent control of specified segments like the animals,which hinders their applications.In this paper,a flexible bio-tensegrity manipulator,inspired by the longitudinal and transversal muscles of octopus tentacles,was proposed to mimic the shrinking behavior and achieve the variable motion patterns of each segment.Such proposed manipulator uses the elastic spring as the backbone,which is driven by four cables and has one variable structure mechanism in each segment to achieve the independent control of each segment.The variable structure mechanism innovatively contains seven lock-release states to independently control the bending and shrinking motion of each segment.After the kinematic modeling and analysis,one prototype of such bionic flexible manipulator was built and the open-loop control method was proposed.Some proof-of-concept experiments,including the shrinking motion,bending motion,and variable structure motion,were carried out by controlling the length of four cables and changing the lock-release states of the variable structure mechanism,which validate the feasibility and validity of our proposed prototype.Meanwhile,the experimental results show the flexible manipulator can accomplish the bending and shrinking motion with the relative error less than 6.8%through the simple independent control of each segment using the variable structure mechanism.This proposed manipulator has the features of controllable degree-of-freedom in each segment,which extend their environmental adaptability,and manipulation capability.
基金Project(2012CB720003)supported by the National Basic Research Program of ChinaProjects(61320106010,61127007,61121003,61573019)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2013DFE13040)supported by the Special Program for International Science and Technology Cooperation from Ministry of Science and Technology of China
文摘Because of its characteristics of simple algorithm and hardware, optical flow-based motion estimation has become a hot research field, especially in GPS-denied environment. Optical flow could be used to obtain the aircraft motion information, but the six-(degree of freedom)(6-DOF) motion still couldn't be accurately estimated by existing methods. The purpose of this work is to provide a motion estimation method based on optical flow from forward and down looking cameras, which doesn't rely on the assumption of level flight. First, the distribution and decoupling method of optical flow from forward camera are utilized to get attitude. Then, the resulted angular velocities are utilized to obtain the translational optical flow of the down camera, which can eliminate the influence of rotational motion on velocity estimation. Besides, the translational motion estimation equation is simplified by establishing the relation between the depths of feature points and the aircraft altitude. Finally, simulation results show that the method presented is accurate and robust.
