Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Over the years, technology has generated countless opportunities and resources which have shaped the way we live and interact with the world. Autonomous vehicles, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) are undeniably among the most significant technological advances of the past few decades. They are becoming crucial in many applications such as Intelligence, Security, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, search and rescue operations, infrastructure inspection, and package delivery, to name a few. This technology has huge potential to play a major role in the world's future landscape, contributing to the creation of many businesses and jobs. According to a recent report by MarketsandMarkets, the overall UAV market is projected to reach USD 58.4 billion by 2026. The development of transportation drones (personal flying-cars and air-taxis), which might seem like a fictional idea at this point in time, will most likely become a reality in the next few decades. Some high-tech companies are investing a lot of efforts in this direction and are optimistic in seeing their air-taxi fleet operational in urban areas as early as 2028. Despite the tireless efforts of the research community and the steady progress in this field, there are still several technical issues that need to be worked out to pave the path forward to fully autonomous vehicles. The most challenging technical hurdles to overcome are related to the development of reliable localization, perception, control, and decision-making systems that can handle highly unpredictable and extreme situations. The main objective of the present proposal is the establishment of a state-of-the-art research facility for the design and performance evaluation of advanced autonomous navigation systems. The proposed equipment which consists of the Quanser's Autonomous Vehicles Research Studio (AVRS) and Self Driving Car Research Studio (SDRS), will be used for the validation of the applicant's innovative research developments supported by his NSERC discovery grant. This facility will also be a great asset to the robotics and aerospace research community at Lakehead University. The expected high-quality research, supported by this infrastructure, will increase the state of knowledge in control, robotics and aerospace engineering, open new avenues in autonomous navigation applications, and provide opportunities for excellent HQP training.