The International Micro Air Vehicle Conference (IMAV 2011) which was held in the Netherlands last week, also featured a series of indoor and outdoor competitions. Winner of the KLPD user trophy (Best operational MAV) was the Akaflieg Team from the Academic flight club Bremen, Germany. Full results are available here.
The main objective of the International Micro Air Vehicle (IMAV) conference and competitions was to provide an effective and established forum for dissemination and demonstration of original and recent advances in MAV technology.
Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) are small flying robotic systems. With their light weight and small size, they form ideal platforms for both research and real-world applications, both civil and military. The development of MAVs requires advanced knowledge from areas such as electronics, mechanics, aerodynamics, navigation and control, and many more.
There are still numerous scientific challenges to be solved in order to fly Micro Air Vehicles under all flight and weather conditions. The development of miniaturized structures, propulsion and navigation systems, aerodynamics, flight controllers, actuators and sensors are just a few of the current research topics in the field of MAVs.
For information, here is a list of the Keynote Speakers at the event:
Prof. Nathan Michael University of Pennsylvania (USA)
Autonomous 3-D Flight and Cooperative Control of Multiple Micro Aerial Vehicles There are now tens of thousands of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in operation but most UAVs are not autonomous. There are very few micro UAVs capable of navigating indoor or urban environments. I will describe our recent work on control and planning for multi-rotor micro UAVs in complex environments. I will also describe approaches to cooperative control enabling such tasks as persistent surveillance, cooperative manipulation and transport of large payloads.
Prof. Nicolas Franceschini Biorobotics Lab, Institute of Movement Science, CNRS and University of the Mediterranean (France)
Insect-inspired optic flow sensors and autopilots for MAV flight control Insects have been navigating swiftly through most unpredictable environments for several millions of centuries. They actuate their control surfaces by their visual sensors in the most direct way by using fly-by-wire technology. I will describe our recent attempts to decipher the basic principles used by insects to measure and make use of optic flow to avoid terrains and obstacles. I will also show how we transcribed insect-inspired optic flow sensors and autopilots into electronics, and implemented them onboard terrestrial and aerial robots over the past 25 years.
Dr. Mark Reeder Air Force Institute of Technology (USA)
Micro Air Vehicle design Micro air vehicle design, by its nature, is highly multi-disciplinary. Improving upon MAV designs will likely require advances in fast-response non-linear controls, integrated propulsion and lift mechanisms, as well as a better understanding of unsteady low Reynolds aerodynamics and flexible structures. Likewise, comprehensive testing of existing MAV designs is also a significant challenge. This talk will provide an overview of ongoing fundamental research into Micro Air Vehicles at the (US) Air Force Institute of Technology and will also cover some of the more general ongoing USAF activities centered around MAVs.
Source: Web Site