Accession Number:
ADA522686
Title:
An Evidence Theoretic Approach to Design of Reliable Low-Cost UAVs
Descriptive Note:
Master's thesis
Corporate Author:
VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND STATE UNIV BLACKSBURG
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
2009-07-28
Pagination or Media Count:
121.0
Abstract:
Small unmanned aerial vehicles SUAVs are plagued by alarmingly high failure rates. Because these systems are small and built at lower cost than full-scale aircraft, high quality components and redundant systems are often eschewed to keep production costs low. This thesis proposes a process to design in reliability in a cost-effective way. Fault Tree Analysis is used to evaluate a systems unreliability and Dempster-Shafer Theory Evidence Theory is used to deal with imprecise failure data. Three unique sensitivity analyses highlight the most cost-effective improvement for the system by either spending money to research a component and reduce uncertainty, swap a component for a higher quality alternative, or add redundancy to an existing component. A MATLAB registered trademark toolbox has been developed to assist in practical design applications. Finally, a case study illustrates the proposed methods by improving the reliability of a new SUAV design Virginia Techs SPAARO UAV.
Descriptors:
- *OPTIMIZATION
- *DESIGN CRITERIA
- *DRONES
- *AIRCRAFT DESIGN
- *RELIABILITY
- *LOW COSTS
- *COST EFFECTIVENESS
- PREVENTION
- REDUNDANCY
- CONTROL SURFACES
- ENGINE STARTERS
- FAULT TREE ANALYSIS
- STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
- BENDING MOMENTS
- SPARS
- CASE STUDIES
- MONTE CARLO METHOD
- THESES
- FAILURE
- THEORY
- FLIGHT TESTING
- COMPUTER PROGRAMS
- COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
Subject Categories:
- Pilotless Aircraft
- Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering and Control of Production Systems