Cooperative Receding Horizon 3D Coverage Control with a Team of Networked Aerial Agents

This work proposes a receding horizon coverage control approach which allows multiple autonomous aerial agents to work cooperatively in order cover the total surface area of a 3D object of interest. The cooperative coverage problem which is posed in this work as an optimal control problem, jointly optimizes the agents' kinematic and camera control inputs, while considering coupling constraints amongst the team of agents which aim at minimizing the duplication of work. To generate look-ahead coverage trajectories over a finite planning horizon, the proposed approach integrates visibility constraints into the proposed coverage controller in order to determine the visible part of the object with respect to the agents' future states. In particular, we show how non-linear and non-convex visibility determination constraints can be transformed into logical constraints which can easily be embedded into a mixed integer optimization program.

Convolutional Channel-wise Competitive Learning for the Forward-Forward Algorithm

The Forward-Forward (FF) Algorithm has been recently proposed to alleviate the issues of backpropagation (BP) commonly used to train deep neural networks. However, its current formulation exhibits limitations such as the generation of negative data, slower convergence, and inadequate performance on complex tasks. In this paper, we take the main ideas of FF and improve them by leveraging channel-wise competitive learning in the context of convolutional neural networks for image classification tasks. A layer-wise loss function is introduced that promotes competitive learning and eliminates the need for negative data construction. To enhance both the learning of compositional features and feature space partitioning, a channel-wise feature separator and extractor block is proposed that complements the competitive learning process. Our method outperforms recent FF-based models on image classification tasks, achieving testing errors of 0.58%, 7.69%, 21.89%, and 48.77% on MNIST, Fashion-MNIST, CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100 respectively. Our approach bridges the performance gap between FF learning and BP methods, indicating the potential of our proposed approach to learn useful representations in a layer-wise modular fashion, enabling more efficient and flexible learning.

Unscented Optimal Control for 3D Coverage Planning with an Autonomous UAV Agent

We propose a novel probabilistically robust controller for the guidance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in coverage planning missions, which can simultaneously optimize both the UAV's motion, and camera control inputs for the 3D coverage of a given object of interest. Specifically, the coverage planning problem is formulated in this work as an optimal control problem with logical constraints to enable the UAV agent to jointly: a) select a series of discrete camera field-of-view states which satisfy a set of coverage constraints, and b) optimize its motion control inputs according to a specified mission objective. We show how this hybrid optimal control problem can be solved with standard optimization tools by converting the logical expressions in the constraints into equality/inequality constraints involving only continuous variables. Finally, probabilistic robustness is achieved by integrating the unscented transformation to the proposed controller, thus enabling the design of robust open-loop coverage plans which take into account the future posterior distribution of the UAV's state inside the planning horizon.

UAV-based Receding Horizon Control for 3D Inspection Planning

Nowadays, unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs are being used for a wide range of tasks, including infrastructure inspection, automated monitoring and coverage. This paper investigates the problem of 3D inspection planning with an autonomous UAV agent which is subject to dynamical and sensing constraints. We propose a receding horizon 3D inspection planning control approach for generating optimal trajectories which enable an autonomous UAV agent to inspect a finite number of feature-points scattered on the surface of a cuboid-like structure of interest. The inspection planning problem is formulated as a constrained open-loop optimal control problem and is solved using mixed integer programming (MIP) optimization. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Integrated Ray-Tracing and Coverage Planning Control using Reinforcement Learning

In this work we propose a coverage planning control approach which allows a mobile agent, equipped with a controllable sensor (i.e., a camera) with limited sensing domain (i.e., finite sensing range and angle of view), to cover the surface area of an object of interest. The proposed approach integrates ray-tracing into the coverage planning process, thus allowing the agent to identify which parts of the scene are visible at any point in time. The problem of integrated ray-tracing and coverage planning control is first formulated as a constrained optimal control problem (OCP), which aims at determining the agent's optimal control inputs over a finite planning horizon, that minimize the coverage time. Efficiently solving the resulting OCP is however very challenging due to non-convex and non-linear visibility constraints. To overcome this limitation, the problem is converted into a Markov decision process (MDP) which is then solved using reinforcement learning. In particular, we show that a controller which follows an optimal control law can be learned using off-policy temporal-difference control (i.e., Q-learning). Extensive numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for various configurations of the agent and the object of interest.

Towards Automated 3D Search Planning for Emergency Response Missions

The ability to efficiently plan and execute automated and precise search missions using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during emergency response situations is imperative. Precise navigation between obstacles and time-efficient searching of 3D structures and buildings are essential for locating survivors and people in need in emergency response missions. In this work we address this challenging problem by proposing a unified search planning framework that automates the process of UAV-based search planning in 3D environments. Specifically, we propose a novel search planning framework which enables automated planning and execution of collision-free search trajectories in 3D by taking into account low-level mission constrains (e.g., the UAV dynamical and sensing model), mission objectives (e.g., the mission execution time and the UAV energy efficiency) and user-defined mission specifications (e.g., the 3D structures to be searched and minimum detection probability constraints). The capabilities and performance of the proposed approach are demonstrated through extensive simulated 3D search scenarios.

3D Trajectory Planning for UAV-based Search Missions: An Integrated Assessment and Search Planning Approach

The ability to efficiently plan and execute search missions in challenging and complex environments during natural and man-made disasters is imperative. In many emergency situations, precise navigation between obstacles and time-efficient searching around 3D structures is essential for finding survivors. In this work we propose an integrated assessment and search planning approach which allows an autonomous UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) agent to plan and execute collision-free search trajectories in 3D environments. More specifically, the proposed search-planning framework aims to integrate and automate the first two phases (i.e., the assessment phase and the search phase) of a traditional search-and-rescue (SAR) mission. In the first stage, termed assessment-planning we aim to find a high-level assessment plan which the UAV agent can execute in order to visit a set of points of interest. The generated plan of this stage guides the UAV to fly over the objects of interest thus providing a first assessment of the situation at hand. In the second stage, termed search-planning, the UAV trajectory is further fine-tuned to allow the UAV to search in 3D (i.e., across all faces) the objects of interest for survivors. The performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated through extensive simulation analysis.

A Multi-label Time Series Classification Approach for Non-intrusive Water End-Use Monitoring

Numerous real-world problems from a diverse set of application areas exist that exhibit temporal dependencies. We focus on a specific type of time series classification which we refer to as aggregated time series classification. We consider an aggregated sequence of a multi-variate time series, and propose a methodology to make predictions based solely on the aggregated information. As a case study, we apply our methodology to the challenging problem of household water end-use dissagregation when using non-intrusive water monitoring. Our methodology does not require a-priori identification of events, and to our knowledge, it is considered for the first time. We conduct an extensive experimental study using a residential water-use simulator, involving different machine learning classifiers, multi-label classification methods, and successfully demonstrate the effectiveness of our methodology.

SafeDrones: Real-Time Reliability Evaluation of UAVs using Executable Digital Dependable Identities

The use of Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) offers many advantages across a variety of applications. However, safety assurance is a key barrier to widespread usage, especially given the unpredictable operational and environmental factors experienced by UAVs, which are hard to capture solely at design-time. This paper proposes a new reliability modeling approach called SafeDrones to help address this issue by enabling runtime reliability and risk assessment of UAVs. It is a prototype instantiation of the Executable Digital Dependable Identity (EDDI) concept, which aims to create a model-based solution for real-time, data-driven dependability assurance for multi-robot systems. By providing real-time reliability estimates, SafeDrones allows UAVs to update their missions accordingly in an adaptive manner.

Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment of Indoor Exploration Algorithms for Autonomous UAVs

Indoor exploration is an important task in disaster relief, emergency response scenarios, and Search And Rescue (SAR) missions. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems can aid first responders by maneuvering autonomously in areas inside buildings dangerous for humans to traverse, exploring the interior, and providing an accurate and reliable indoor map before the emergency response team takes action. Due to the challenging conditions in such scenarios and the inherent battery limitations and time constraints, we investigate 2D autonomous exploration strategies (e.g., based on 2D LiDAR) for mapping 3D indoor environments. First, we introduce a battery consumption model to consider the battery life aspect for the first time as a critical factor for evaluating the flight endurance of exploration strategies. Second, we perform extensive simulation experiments in diverse indoor environments using various state-of-the-art 2D LiDAR-based exploration strategies. We evaluate our findings in terms of various quantitative and qualitative performance indicators, suggesting that these strategies behave differently depending on the complexity of the environment and initial conditions, e.g., the entry point.