NASA Content and Resources Used:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Agreement No. NNX15AI02H issued through a Fellowship award from the Nevada Space Grant Consortium.
NV Space Grant Highlight
Monopolistic Behaviors in Unmanned Airspace by Dr. Scott Forer, University of Nevada, Reno
Overview:
During my graduate studies at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), under Dr. Yliniemi, I worked on a model enhancement to include more realistic unmanned airspace flight patterns for NASA’s Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system. The current methods for modeling multiple subsystems of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) do not account for competitive markets. By making modifications to an existing multi-UAV model, we investigated different behavioral interactions between the multiple subsystems and showed how competitive behaviors affect each subsystem. This new method of modeling multiple subsystems and their interactions is a critical step in validating NASA’s UTM system and advancing multisystem research.
This project allowed me to expand my knowledge of advanced control theory and cement my interest in the control of UAVs. I finished my MS in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on autonomous control systems at UNR and will start work as a guidance, navigation, and controls engineer in June 2018.