Unmanned aerial systems: Autonomy, cognition, and control

The increasing trend towards a higher level of autonomy in unmanned aerial systems (UASs) had led to lower requirements for control by the human operator and to an increasing capability to perform complex tasks by reacting to the environmental influences. Nevertheless, current UASs are designed to function in static and predictable environments. Therefore, it is envisaged that the existing uncertainties and dynamic changes, caused when an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is operating in an unknown environment, would reduce its performance significantly. The uncertainties can be also incurred through interaction with other complex and intelligent systems, such as humans. We present a compact literature survey of UAS control and navigation as a basic knowledge to develop UASs from the perspective of the control engineer. Besides, we present several control strategies to maintain a UAS, as well as multi-UASs, under a network setting under various scenarios. Several simulations are given to illustrate the performance of the controllers in MATLAB®. Advances in computing power and algorithms currently enable the development of systems with a high degree of autonomy. Nonetheless, there is a large gap between practical operation in the real-world and laboratory implementation, as safe deployment of UASs requires validation of their behavior under almost all envisaged scenarios. A reliable and autonomous operation of such a system requires design and development of a cognitive control system that acquires knowledge and understanding of the surrounding environment via perception, reasoning, and learning. Cognitive control systems in UASs will enhance their safety and performance. Cognitive control can also be used in cooperative execution of complex tasks where multiple agents such as humans, machines, or both interact. Such UASs will have a great potential to be used in extreme environments such as search and rescue in the case of disaster, nuclear decommissioning operations, deep-sea exploration, mining, etc.