TY - JOUR A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Kohlhoff, Harald A1 - Hüllmann, Dino A1 - Krentel, Daniel A1 - Kluge, Martin A1 - Dzierliński, M. A1 - Lilienthal, A. J. A1 - Bartholmai, Matthias T1 - Aerial-based gas tomography – from single beams to complex gas distributions N2 - In this paper, we present and validate the concept of an autonomous aerial robot to reconstruct tomographic 2D slices of gas plumes in outdoor environments. Our platform, the so-called Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Remote Gas Sensing (UAV-REGAS), combines a lightweight Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) gas sensor with a 3-axis aerial stabilization gimbal for aiming at a versatile octocopter. While the TDLAS sensor provides integral gas concentration measurements, it does not measure the distance traveled by the laser diode’s beam nor the distribution of gas along the optical path. Thus, we complement the set-up with a laser rangefinder and apply principles of Computed Tomography (CT) to create a model of the spatial gas distribution from a set of integral concentration measurements. To allow for a fundamental ground truth evaluation of the applied gas tomography algorithm, we set up a unique outdoor test environment based on two 3D ultrasonic anemometers and a distributed array of 10 infrared gas transmitters. We present results showing its performance characteristics and 2D plume reconstruction capabilities under realistic conditions. The proposed system can be deployed in scenarios that cannot be addressed by currently available robots and thus constitutes a significant step forward for the field of Mobile Robot Olfaction (MRO). KW - Aerial robot olfaction KW - Mobile robot olfaction KW - Gas tomography KW - TDLAS KW - Plume PY - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-487843 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London AN - OPUS4-48784 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Hüllmann, Dino A1 - Bartholmai, Matthias ED - Pastramă, Ş. D. ED - Constantinescu, D. M. T1 - Concept of a gas-sensitive nano aerial robot swarm for indoor air quality monitoring N2 - In this paper, we introduce a nano aerial robot swarm for indoor air quality monitoring applications such as occupational health and safety of (industrial) workplaces. The concept combines a robotic swarm composing of nano Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (nano UAVs), based on the Crazyflie 2.0 quadrocopter, and small lightweight metal oxide gas sensors for measuring the Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) in ppb and estimating the eCO2 (equivalent calculated carbon-dioxide) concentration in ppm. TVOC is a measure for the indoor air quality. An indoor localization and positioning system will be used to estimate the absolute 3D position of the swarm like GPS. Based on this novel indoor air quality monitoring concept, the development and validation of new algorithms in the field of Mobile Robot Olfaction (MRO) are planned, namely gas source localization and gas distribution mapping. A test scenario will be built up to validate and optimize the gas-sensitive nano aerial robot swarm for the intended applications. T2 - 35th Danubia Adria Symposium on Advances in Experimental Mechanics CY - Sinaia, Romania DA - 25.09.2018 KW - Nano aerial robot KW - UAV KW - Swarm KW - Indoor air quality KW - Monitoring KW - Concept PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.03.151 SN - 2214-7853 VL - 12 IS - 2 SP - 470 EP - 473 PB - Elsevier Ltd. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-48055 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hüllmann, Dino A1 - Kohlhoff, Harald A1 - Erdmann, Jessica A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. ED - Pastramă, Ş. D. ED - Constantinescu, D. M. T1 - Control of a spherical parallel manipulator N2 - In mobile robot applications, some sensors such as open-path gas detectors or laser rangefinders need to be aimed at specific targets in order to get the desired measurements. To do this in a fast and elegant manner, we present a spherical parallel manipulator with three degrees of freedom. Compared to typical serial manipulators, it offers superior dynamics and structural stiffness, which are important parameters for this type of task. We present the mechanical design and derive kinematic equations both to compute set-points for the desired orientation and to estimate the current state of the system. A PID controller is used to generate control signals. T2 - 35th Danubia-Adria Symposium on Advances in Experimental Mechanics CY - Sinaia, Romania DA - 25.09.2018 KW - Spherical parallel manipulator KW - Sensor orientation KW - Sensor alignment KW - Sensor aiming PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.03.145 SN - 2214-7853 VL - 12 IS - 2 SP - 423 EP - 430 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam, Netherlands AN - OPUS4-48044 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hüllmann, Dino A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Scheuschner, Nils A1 - Bartholmai, Matthias A1 - Lilienthal, A.J. T1 - Experimental Validation of the Cone-Shaped Remote Gas Sensor Model N2 - Remote gas sensors mounted on mobile robots enable the mapping of gas distributions in large or hardly accessible areas. A challenging task, however, is the generation of threedimensional distribution maps from these gas measurements. Suitable reconstruction algorithms can be adapted, for instance, from the field of computed tomography (CT), but both their performance and strategies for selecting optimal measuring poses must be evaluated. For this purpose simulations are used, since, in contrast to field tests, they allow repeatable conditions. Although several simulation tools exist, they lack realistic models of remote gas sensors. Recently, we introduced a model for a Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) gas sensor taking into account the conical shape of its laser beam. However, the novel model has not yet been validated with experiments. In this paper, we compare our model with a real sensor device and show that the assumptions made hold. T2 - IEEE Sensors 2019 CY - Montreal, Canada DA - 27.10.2019 KW - Remote gas sensor model KW - TDLAS KW - Gas dispersion simulation PY - 2019 SN - 978-1-7281-1634-1 SP - 104 EP - 107 PB - IEEE AN - OPUS4-49548 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Hüllmann, Dino A1 - Krentel, Daniel A1 - Kluge, Martin A1 - Kohlhoff, Harald A1 - Lilienthal, A. J. T1 - Gas Tomography Up In The Air! N2 - In this paper, we present an autonomous aerial robot to reconstruct tomographic 2D slices of gas plumes in outdoor environments. Our platform, the so-called Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Remote Gas Sensing (UAV-REGAS) combines a lightweight Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) sensor with a 3-axis aerial stabilization gimbal for aiming on a versatile octocopter. The TDLAS sensor provides integral gas concentration measurements but no information regarding the distance traveled by the laser diode's beam or the distribution of the gas along the optical path. We complemented the set-up with a laser rangefinder and apply principles of Computed Tomography (CT) to create a model of the spatial gas distribution from these integral concentration measurements. To allow for a rudimentary ground truth evaluation of the applied gas tomography algorithm, we set up a unique outdoor test environment based on two 3D ultrasonic anemometers and a distributed array of 10 infrared gas transmitters. We present first results showing the 2D plume reconstruction capabilities of the system under realistic conditions. T2 - IEEE Sensors 2018 CY - New Delhi, India DA - 28.10.2018 KW - Aerial robot KW - TDLAS KW - Gas tomography KW - Plume PY - 2018 SN - 978-1-5386-4707-3 SP - 396 EP - 398 PB - IEEE AN - OPUS4-46477 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Hüllmann, Dino A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. A1 - Schugardt, Jan ED - Rudnitskaya, A. T1 - Remote Drone-to-Drone Gas Sensing: A Feasibility Study N2 - Remote gas sensors mounted on mobile robots enable the mapping of gas distributions in large or poorly accessible areas. A challenging task however, is the generation of three-dimensional distribution maps from these spatially sparse gas measurements. To obtain high-quality reconstructions, the choice of optimal measuring poses is of great importance. Remote gas sensors, that are commonly used in Robot Assisted Gas Tomography (RAGT), require reflecting surfaces within the sensor’s range, limiting the possible sensing geometries, regardless of whether the robots are ground-based or airborne. By combining ground and aerial robots into a heterogeneous swarm whose agents are equipped with reflectors and remote gas sensors, remote inter-robot gas measurements become available, taking RAGT to the next dimension – releasing those constraints. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of drone-to-drone measurements under realistic conditions and highlight the resulting opportunities. T2 - 19th International Symposium on Olfaction and Electronic Nose CY - Aveiro, Portugal DA - 29.05.2022 KW - Aerial robot KW - TDLAS KW - Inter-robot measurements KW - Gas tomography KW - Plume PY - 2022 SN - 978-1-6654-5860-3 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/isoen54820.2022.9789627 SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - IEEE CY - USA AN - OPUS4-54926 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -