Enhancement of a Simulation Environment for UAV-based Condition Monitoring Systems of Heliostat Fields

Kurzfassung

Developing real-time UAV condition monitoring systems can be an expensive, timeconsuming, and potentially dangerous task. Using simulation environments can significantly speed up the development process, reduce costs, and enhance safety. By testing the autopilot’s response to alterations within the simulation Environment rather than conducting time-consuming and potentially hazardous real-world field tests, especially in the early stages of autopilot development, developers can refine and optimize the system with greater efficiency and confidence. In this thesis, a simulation environment for concentrating solar power plants has been enhanced to provide photorealistic rendering and accurate flight dynamics. This environment was then used to further develop a vision-based heliostat inspection algorithm by tuning its internal PID control. This thesis includes a comprehensive literature review of state-of-the-art high-fidelity UAV simulation environments and PID control tuning methods. An existing UAV simulation environment, based on the AirSim framework, has been enhanced by incorporating precise geometric modeling of heliostats and using Unreal Engine 5 for rendering. The UAV simulation kinematics were validated through test flights both in simulation and in the field. Additionally, the simulation environment was utilized to tune a PID controller within the heliostat inspection algorithm by performing automated test flights with various parameter settings and assessing each flight with a cost function. It was found that a complex UAV autopilot can be developed and tested inside a simulation environment, where unwanted behavior could be identified and correcting measures could be applied. Moreover, tuning cascaded PID controllers using datadriven methods proved viable, and the ability to render perception data supports the simulation of computer vision components in future applications of the Simulation environment.