Alternating Drive-and-Glide Flight Navigation of a Kiteplane for Sound Source Position Estimation
Makoto Kumon, Hiroshi G. Okuno, Shuichi Tajima · 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) · 2021
Drone audition, namely the hearing capability of a drone, is expected to compensate for the drawbacks of visual sensors in search-and-rescue missions. Current multi-rotor drones have limitations of flight duration and sound processing due to ego-noise generated by rotors and air-flow. Drone audition for a kiteplane, i.e., a fixed-wing drone that can fly slowly and stably, has not been investigated. This paper proposes "Alternating Drive-and-Glide Flight Navigation"(AltDGFNavi) of a kiteplane for sound source position estimation. AltDGFNavi consists of two functions: periodical switching rotor for driving and gliding to reduce ego-noise, and dynamic flight path generation to fly close to the target. AltDGFNavi was evaluated through numerical simulations, and the results of sound source position estimation demonstrated the effectiveness of AltDGFNavi.