In order to enable the safe and efficient integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into very low level airspace, modern day research focuses on the development of new traffic services and procedures. One of these is the geovectoring protocol, which aims to reduce traffic complexity by setting limits on the allowed ground speed, course, and vertical speed. A geovector can be used to increase the capacity of an airspace by lowering the conflict rate. However, problems with priorities emerge when performing conflict resolution maneuvers in geovector airspace, as the limits are ignored in this process. A powerful conflict resolution algorithm is the Modified Voltage Potential (MVP). This research proposes an extension to the MVP ruleset, based on Velocity Obstacle theory. Making use of an alternative conflict resolution maneuver which respects the geovector, five resolution strategies are defined with different priority settings for the separate limits. The performance of these strategies is compared to pure MVP on geovector, safety, and stability measures, making use of fast-time simulations in a corridor airspace. All resolution strategies show improvements on the ability to perform conflict resolution maneuvers within the geovector limits, albeit at the expense of safety and stability. It is recommended to further investigate the performance of the geovector resolution strategies for other types of airspace, to verify whether the observed reduction in conflict rate from the geovectors can be reinforced by the resolution strategies. ... Read more

Wild_res have always been a problem; but, with human migration all around the world, this problem has signi_- cantly increased its importance and impact. The mounting challenges facing wild_re management, together with its increasing demand, have necessitated research into technological advancements and methods to increase wild_re management ef_cacy. As Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) become more and more widespread, development has skyrocketed and is applied to all kinds of areas, such as surveillance, military, and commercial _lming. Fire surveillance is the area of interest for this project. The main goal of this report is to offer a concise overview of the preliminary design of the _re monitoring swarm system. This report will touch upon the main problems encountered while working on the design and the solutions of these problems. The report ends with some recommendations for the future. Forest _res happen all over Europe; however, the Mediterranean region is most affected by these forest _res. Combined with global warming, the occurrence of forest _res will increase, which will lead to an increase of the annual economic and environmental damage caused by these _res. Both _re _ghters and operational centres have been searching for years to effectively combat forest _res, thereby minimising the damage done by forest _res. Different systems have been used in the past, some as simple as _re lookout towers and some as complex as optical-based smoke detection systems. However, none of these systems has been able to provide real-time data to _re_ghters. This is where this _re monitoring swarm comes into play. The swarm system is composed of a searching and a tracking element. The searching element has 5 Penguin B UAVs and has two operating modes. The _rst mode is detection of _res and con_rming upon detection, while the second mode consists of acting as a mothership for that speci_c _re. The tracking element has 10 Albatross UAVs which can perform three functions, namely high altitude tracking; low altitude tracking; and scouting. Members of the swarm will have a communication system for communication among swarm members and for communication with the operational centres. All UAVs will be launched using a catapult and are capable of a fully autonomous landing... ... Read more