Designing and Development of an Autonomous Blimp

Vehicle is amongst the most lauded inventions of humankind. The initial purpose of a vehicle, as the name suggests, was to facilitate transportation. However, further exploitation of the potential encompassed in the instant concept proved its usefulness in many other fields besides transport

Project Title

Designing and Development of an Autonomous Blimp

Project Area of Specialization

Robotics

Project Summary

Vehicle is amongst the most lauded inventions of humankind. The initial purpose of a vehicle, as the name suggests, was to facilitate transportation. However, further exploitation of the potential encompassed in the instant concept proved its usefulness in many other fields besides transportation itself. With the advancement in science and technology, people started to use vehicles in network communication, surveillance, surveys, payloads’ delivery, aerial mapping etc. The acme of success kindled scientists and engineers to take a step further by making the vehicles autonomous (ability to control a vehicle from a greater distance). Autonomous vehicles are divided into a broad spectrum of categories for land, air and water. For air, we use the term UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). A blimp (in the category of UAV) is considered as an airship or an aerostat. An airship or a dirigible balloon gains its lift due to the gas filled in its envelope. Our main line of work here includes three main steps. The first step includes determination of the equipment. To make the blimp autonomous, weight equilibrium is very important. It is necessary to have the uplift and down-lift forces cancelling out each other at the desired altitude. So, the equipment is chosen on the basis of its weight and its ability to provide the intended results. The next step is to test the equipment. Well, many unforeseen events can happen which are theoretically impossible to determine but may cause some serious problems. So in the testing phase, we will test the functionality of the acquired equipment under different conditions and see what challenges are there to face. The third step is to put everything together and give it a test run. Analyze how different equipment is coordinating with each other. Removing the bottlenecks and improving the efficiency further if possible. We have also thought about inserting solar panels which will increase the flight time (currently, the estimated flight time is between 1 to 2 hours). After the last phase, we will jot down some underlying conditions for flying the blimp out in the open. Strong winds, rainy days etc. may seriously endanger the sensitive equipment so if something unfortunate happens, we will try our level best to land the prototype safe and sound with zero to minimal damages. We try to write a research paper mentioning all the said things in detail. This will help give a vast overview of the things to do and the things to be careful of. The necessity of reliability and efficiency has always been of apex importance. There are certain thresholds to which one can sustain the trade-off between these two but if they aren’t balanced, the whole thing becomes a nuisance. Being said that, in this project, we have tried to keep both of these things at par with one another. We have tried to ensure the whole thing (our project) cost effective providing adequate comfort and improved efficacy. 

Project Objectives

The first and foremost objective of this project is to implement such a system which is cost effective and efficient. The need of aforementioned things is underscored because of the existing methods used for a agricultural survey purposes, which include,

• Physical survey.

In physical surveying, you have to visit the concerned area and collect the necessary data for further analysis.

• Using battery powered vehicles.

Battery powered vehicles like drones, RCs etc. can efficiently acquire data but have battery timing issues. They constantly consume battery, which limits their active time to at most 30 minutes. Vehicles having longer battery endurances are costly.

• Satellite imaging

We can also use satellites for surveying purposes but a super high-definition picture taken from a satellite costs a fortune and even then, the resolution is not that good. In addition, the data is received in 15 to 20 days, which is tedious, and a nuisance

The main objectives of this project are following,

1. To mount a camera which is carefully calibrated and fixed so that there are zero distortions. Actually, outdoor environmental conditions have many additional factors in contrast to indoor conditions like air speed fluctuations, variable atmospheric pressure, humidity, temperature changes etc. along with these, things like motor vibrations, pressure of the rotating propellers etc. cause serious vibrations in the whole chassis of the prototype. These vibrations distort the video, making it impossible to extract the vital information.

2. To implement a system that is able to transmit live stream as well as store the same data on the mounted storage device. We will try to have a zero delay high-resolution transmission.

3. The transmission system will have a long range in order to be able to cover a large area and to have a greater FOV (Field of View). For an aerial survey, the main things you need are the clarity of vision and greater FOV as it helps covering larger area in less amount of time.

4. To be able to control the aircraft through GPS system by providing multiple POIs (Points of Interest) in a sequenced order called “mission”. This kind of approach is vital when the blimp is not in you line of sight. In a survey, you cannot just follow the blimp and keep it in your control range as it is imprudent and hectic (similar to physical survey). So, by giving multiple points of interests, we can guide the blimp through GPS and can perform large survey without moving a muscle.

5. To have fail-safe mechanism in order to prevent the possibility of mishaps that may occur during the flight. We will also have certain course of action and protocols implemented in case something unwanted happens.

6. Last, all of these objectives have only one goal, and that is to make the whole blimp autonomous. It will take certain decisions based on its surroundings and will balance the whole thing by normalizing the forces.    

Project Implementation Method

The main implementation methods are as under,

The whole project will be implemented in three ways or steps,

1. In the first step, we will determine the type of equipment necessary for the project. To make the blimp autonomous, weight equilibrium is very important. It is necessary to have the uplift and down-lift forces cancelling out each other at the desired altitude. So, the equipment is chosen on the basis of its weight and its ability to provide the intended results. The shell of the blimp is capable of lifting a certain amount of weight, determination of which is done by the volume of gas it can withhold in its shell. It should not be too long as the drag/opposition force of air’s fluidity makes the control of whole thing a tedious job. Its length should also be not too small aiding to its inability of lifting the payload. 

2. The second step is to test the equipment. Well, many unforeseen events can happen which are theoretically impossible to determine but may cause some serious problems. So in the testing phase, we will test the functionality of the acquired equipment under different conditions and see what challenges are there to face. To get a visualization of this step, you can think of things like the stability of the motors and propellers, minimal vibrations in the shaft, control of the servos, anti-leakage precautions of the blimp’s shell (as the shell is thin and is susceptible to tear causing leakage of the uplifting gas), movement of the rudder, communication latency and range, quality of the transmitted video, battery utilization and power saving, fail-safe precautions etc. As mentioned before, low latency in video transmission is a big challenge of its own. For this, we have currently decided to use low frequency high range video transmitters and receivers. Although, during further tests, better options may arrive suitable to our needs.

3. The third step is to put everything together and give it a test run. Analyze how different equipment is coordinating with each other. Removing the bottlenecks and improving the efficiency further if possible. We have also thought about inserting solar panels which will increase the flight time (currently, the estimated flight time is between 1 to 2 hours). It can be achieved if the batteries keep on charging through energy acquired from solar panels. Thin solar panel sheets do cost a bit but can prove to be of great use. Also, a main thing here is to see how the prototype handles different environmental strains.

After the last phase, we will jot down some underlying conditions for flying the blimp out in the open. Strong winds, rainy days etc. may seriously endanger the sensitive equipment so if something unfortunate happens, we will try our level best to land the prototype safe and sound with zero to minimal damages. We try to write a research paper mentioning all the said things in detail. This will help give a vast overview of the things to do and the things to be careful of.

Benefits of the Project

The main benefits of the project are as under,

1. A blimp’s endurance makes it very well suited for use as a UAV. As UAVs don’t require pilots, the only thing constraining the time a blimp can spend in the air is its ability to generate propulsion and lift. Because the blimp does not need to expend energy generating lift, it can expend all of its energy on propulsion, making the same amount of energy last longer. This capability gives blimps a distinct advantage in terms of staying in the air longer for the same amount of energy compared to heavier-than-air platforms. Additionally, as it does not require constant propulsion, a blimp can shut down its propulsion systems and drift, only activating periodically to maintain position thereby conserving energy.

2. Currently, fixed-wing UAVs have endurances measured in hours, whereas LTA UAVs  are predicted to have endurances of several weeks. Another benefit of the blimp platform is its maneuverability. A blimp can pivot in place, ascend and descend much like a helicopter in a straight, vertical line, and hold position without circling.Blimps do not need to maintain speed to maintain lift, so they can loiter and make slower passes where a fixed wing aircraft cannot. Because a blimp has a single, unchanging source of vertical thrust, unlike the uneven thrust provided by a helicopter, it has better stability than most platforms in low wind conditions.

3. Blimps have several features that make them substantially safer to automate than fixed or rotary wing aircraft. For one, a blimp does not immediately lose altitude if it loses control or power temporarily. As the blimp does not need constant control input to maintain lift, a loss of control or a slight error would not instantaneously cause a loss of altitude. Instead the blimp will either drift or drive in the incorrect direction. As the blimp would not be moving especially rapidly, there would likely be time for human intervention to prevent a crash. In the event this time was not available, the low speed of the blimp would likely result in a gentle impact. Similarly, power failure would result in a drifting balloon. Unlike an aircraft that loses power and crashes, a drifting balloon and its payload are more likely to be recoverable.

4. The blimp platform also handles payloads differently than other aircraft. Traditional aircraft trade payload for range and endurance, as it takes substantially more energy to lift a larger payload. For a blimp, no additional energy is expended maintaining altitude once the payload has been lifted. For a fixed wing aircraft, maximum payload is determined by the lift generating capacity of the wings and the maximum thrust that can be generated by that aircraft’s engines. For the blimp, payload is determined by the volume of the shell. This means that blimps can have higher payload limits on a larger scale than fixed wing aircraft.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The main deliverables of this project are as under,

1. Provision of an Autonomous Blimp system with fully functioning hardware, capable of providing major facilities necessary for surveying an area.

2. Provision of a detailed module design document. It will include the equipment used, the design followed, trials and errors etc.

3. Provision of detailed Final Year Project completion report underlying the main accomplishments, different approaches used and the end results respectively.

4. Provision of detailed working prototype document highlighting the things done and future modifications that can be done as per the requirement. 

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Agriculture

Other Industries

Others

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Big Data

Sustainable Development Goals

Zero Hunger, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Climate Action

Required Resources

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