The Autonomous Drone

Transcript: The Autonomous Drone - RMIT University

VISUAL: Soft focus, moving drone footage of RMIT Bundoora campus.

TEXT ON SCREEN: RMIT University Presents

AUDIO: Calming, ambient music.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Drones of a feather - inspired by birds in flight, RMIT researchers have developed an autonomous soaring drone.

VISUAL: Professor Simon Watkins is being interviewed against a black background with an RMIT logo and type on the wall on the left of frame out of focus.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Professor Simon Watkins, Professor of Automotive Engineering

PROF. SIMON WATKINS SPEAKS: So updrafts are where the air is pushed out for either the reasons of the topography

VISUAL: Slow motion of flocks of birds flying

PROF. SIMON WATKINS SPEAKS: with hills, for example, and maybe thermals, and birds have used these to try to gain altitude or to try and

VISUAL: Slow motion of birds near cliffs, over the ocean.

PROF. SIMON WATKINS SPEAKS: extend their flight range so they really use it an energy-saving method.

VISUAL: A small flock of birds soar past a lighthouse.

VISUAL: Doctor Reece Clothier is being interviewed against a black background with an RMIT logo and type on the wall on the left of frame out of focus.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Dr Reece Clothier, Senior Lecturer

DOCTOR REECE CLOTHIER SPEAKS: At RMIT, we developed a small fixed-wing unmanned aircraft that's capable of autonomously soaring on these updrafts, exactly like a bird would in nature.

VISUAL: Doctor Abdulghani Mohamed is being interviewed against a black background with an RMIT logo and type on the wall on the left of frame out of focus.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Dr Abdulghani Mohamed, Research Fellow

DOCTOR ALBDULGHANI MOHAMED SPEAKS: To develop such a UAV, we initially wanted to investigate the flow field through flow simulations

VISUAL: Birds eye view of an animations showing turbulence round buildings, the turbulence is represented by blue, green, yellow, orange and red swirls, red representing the highest velocity and blue the lowest.

VISUAL: Side on view and moving 3D views of the same animation.

DOCTOR ALBDULGHANI MOHAMED SPEAKS: these flow simulations allowed us to understand the flow environment of birds and identify the soaring hot spots around the buildings.

VISUAL: Moving animation with a simulated model bird flying around the buildings.

VISUAL: Dr Alex Fisher is being interviewed against a black background with an RMIT logo and type on the wall on the left of frame out of focus.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Dr Alex Fisher, Research Fellow

DOCTOR ALEX FISHER SPEAKS: By using an unmanned air vehicle and doing some preliminary flight trials, we were able to demonstrate

VISUAL: A man throws (launches) a model of a bird into the air from the top of a building; this is the autonomous drone test flight. The drone is lifted in to the air and flies by itself using the updrafts surrounding the building.

DOCTOR ALEX FISHER SPEAKS: that autonomous soaring is feasible. By utilising the updrafts, we're able to sustain flight for about five times as long as what we could with the propeller-driven version of the aircraft.

VISUAL: Doctor Abdulghani Mohamed is being interviewed against a black background with an RMIT logo and type on the wall on the left of frame out of focus.

DOCTOR ALBDULGHANI MOHAMED SPEAKS: The next stage in the research is to replicate physical features of birds to enhance

VISUAL: Students in a workshop gathered around the bird-shaped drone model, they are tinkering with electronics and making modifications to the sensors.

DOCTOR ALBDULGHANI MOHAMED SPEAKS: the flight performance of UAVs. It's part of an ongoing research program here at RMIT University investigating bio-inspired UAV designs.

VISUAL: Moving drone footage rising up over RMIT City Campus, Alumni Courtyard, the city in the background. Video becomes soft in focus.

TEXT ON SCREEN:
RMIT Researchers- Sir Lawrence Wackett Aerospace Research Centre, School of Engineering, 

Dr Reece Clothier, Professor Simon Watkins, Dr Abdulghani Mohamed, Dr Alex Fisher, Mr Mohamed Elbanhawi, Dr Robert Carrese, Chung Leung

External Researchers - Dr Jennifer Palmer (DSTG), Professor David Fletcher (University of Sydney)

TEXT ON SCREEN: RMIT Unmaned Aircraft Systems Research Team
www.ruasrt.com

VISUAL: Animation revealing RMIT Logo and logotype.

AUDIO: Ambient music fades out

[End of Transcript]

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