Sensors and measurements for UAV safety

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of sensor and measurement technologies for enhancing the safety of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). In particular, the paper discusses the sensors and measurement technologies to improve the perception of the environment in UAVs as well as the platforms for ground verification of UAVs. The paper finally presents the prototype of a UAV test platform for small UAVs, developed as result of a collaboration between the University of Sannio and a company, allowing to measure the thrust force in several directions, the orientation of the UAV and the power consumption. The platform was recently enhanced with a machine learning-based fault detection method which was proven to identify propeller defects.