The impact of extreme environmental conditions on drone flight has become a major topic in UAV science. Many of the existing applications designed for drones (e.g. precision agriculture, delivery of instruments or medical supplies) have not been fully exploited by the market so far. This is due to the lack of existing knowledge about drone flight under variable weather conditions. In the literature, there are no systematic studies that analyzed the success or failure of a drone flight, based on the variability of climatic conditions. Moreover, a bias in the existing tests has been the non-reproducibility of the same climatic conditions.
Our goal (2019)
Primary aim of this project is to establish a testing facility for drone flight in extreme environmental conditions. These tests will be controlled and reproducible, thanks to the facility terraXcube, where the tests will be performed. Drones will fly in an artificially reproduced scenario of multiple climatic stress factors: wind, heat, rain, snow, high altitude, etc. The obtained information will be useful for the design and development of a new drone generation, more reliable and safe.
Collaboration with local companies: a glocal approach
South-tyrolean companies lead in drones development will be involved in the project from its very beginning. They will provide drones to be tested and will work together with Eurac Research for the definition of the test parameters.
Work with us
We are looking for new partners and companies willing to develop this project with us.
Email: terraxcube@eurac.edu
Phone: 0039 0471 055550
Publications
M. Scanavino, A. Vilardi, G. Guglieri (2019) | A new facility for UAV testing in climate-controlled environments | IEEE
Y. Li, M. Scanavino, E. Capello, F. Dabbene, G. Guglieri, A. Vilardi (2018) | A novel distributed architecture for UAV indoor navigation | Transportation Research Procedia
M. Scanavino, A. Vilardi, G. Guglieri (2020) | An Experimental Analysis on Propeller Performance in a Climate-controlled Facility | Journal of Intelligent & Robotics Systems
DronEx is a project financed by the European Regional Development Fund