@inproceedings{WellmerChenBraunetal.2007, author = {Wellmer, Georg and Chen, B.-H. and Braun, Carsten and Ballmann, Josef}, title = {Numerical prediction of aeroelastic effects on twin-sting-rig mounted models for rear fuselage and empennage flow investigation in transonic windtunnel}, series = {Proceedings / IFASD 2007, CEAS/AIAA/KTH International Forum on Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics, June 18 - 21, 2007, Stockholm, Sweden}, booktitle = {Proceedings / IFASD 2007, CEAS/AIAA/KTH International Forum on Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics, June 18 - 21, 2007, Stockholm, Sweden}, publisher = {KTH}, address = {Stockholm}, organization = {Confederation of European Aerospace Societies ; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, Va. ; Kungliga Tekniska H{\"o}gskolan, Stockholm}, pages = {1 CD-ROM}, year = {2007}, language = {en} } @article{UlmerBraunChengetal.2023, author = {Ulmer, Jessica and Braun, Carsten and Cheng, Chi-Tsun and Dowey, Steve and Wollert, J{\"o}rg}, title = {A human factors-aware assistance system in manufacturing based on gamification and hardware modularisation}, series = {International Journal of Production Research}, journal = {International Journal of Production Research}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, issn = {0020-7543 (Print)}, doi = {10.1080/00207543.2023.2166140}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Assistance systems have been widely adopted in the manufacturing sector to facilitate various processes and tasks in production environments. However, existing systems are mostly equipped with rigid functional logic and do not provide individual user experiences or adapt to their capabilities. This work integrates human factors in assistance systems by adjusting the hardware and instruction presented to the workers' cognitive and physical demands. A modular system architecture is designed accordingly, which allows a flexible component exchange according to the user and the work task. Gamification, the use of game elements in non-gaming contexts, has been further adopted in this work to provide level-based instructions and personalised feedback. The developed framework is validated by applying it to a manual workstation for industrial assembly routines.}, language = {en} } @article{ThomessenThomaBraun2023, author = {Thomessen, Karolin and Thoma, Andreas and Braun, Carsten}, title = {Bio-inspired altitude changing extension to the 3DVFH* local obstacle avoidance algorithm}, series = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal}, journal = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Wien}, issn = {1869-5590 (Online)}, doi = {10.1007/s13272-023-00691-w}, pages = {11 Seiten}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Obstacle avoidance is critical for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating autonomously. Obstacle avoidance algorithms either rely on global environment data or local sensor data. Local path planners react to unforeseen objects and plan purely on local sensor information. Similarly, animals need to find feasible paths based on local information about their surroundings. Therefore, their behavior is a valuable source of inspiration for path planning. Bumblebees tend to fly vertically over far-away obstacles and horizontally around close ones, implying two zones for different flight strategies depending on the distance to obstacles. This work enhances the local path planner 3DVFH* with this bio-inspired strategy. The algorithm alters the goal-driven function of the 3DVFH* to climb-preferring if obstacles are far away. Prior experiments with bumblebees led to two definitions of flight zone limits depending on the distance to obstacles, leading to two algorithm variants. Both variants reduce the probability of not reaching the goal of a 3DVFH* implementation in Matlab/Simulink. The best variant, 3DVFH*b-b, reduces this probability from 70.7 to 18.6\% in city-like worlds using a strong vertical evasion strategy. Energy consumption is higher, and flight paths are longer compared to the algorithm version with pronounced horizontal evasion tendency. A parameter study analyzes the effect of different weighting factors in the cost function. The best parameter combination shows a failure probability of 6.9\% in city-like worlds and reduces energy consumption by 28\%. Our findings demonstrate the potential of bio-inspired approaches for improving the performance of local path planning algorithms for UAV.}, language = {en} } @article{ThomaThomessenGardietal.2023, author = {Thoma, Andreas and Thomessen, Karolin and Gardi, Alessandro and Fisher, A. and Braun, Carsten}, title = {Prioritising paths: An improved cost function for local path planning for UAV in medical applications}, series = {The Aeronautical Journal}, journal = {The Aeronautical Journal}, number = {First View}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {0001-9240 (Print)}, doi = {10.1017/aer.2023.68}, pages = {1 -- 18}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Even the shortest flight through unknown, cluttered environments requires reliable local path planning algorithms to avoid unforeseen obstacles. The algorithm must evaluate alternative flight paths and identify the best path if an obstacle blocks its way. Commonly, weighted sums are used here. This work shows that weighted Chebyshev distances and factorial achievement scalarising functions are suitable alternatives to weighted sums if combined with the 3DVFH* local path planning algorithm. Both methods considerably reduce the failure probability of simulated flights in various environments. The standard 3DVFH* uses a weighted sum and has a failure probability of 50\% in the test environments. A factorial achievement scalarising function, which minimises the worst combination of two out of four objective functions, reaches a failure probability of 26\%; A weighted Chebyshev distance, which optimises the worst objective, has a failure probability of 30\%. These results show promise for further enhancements and to support broader applicability.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{ThomaStiemerBraunetal.2023, author = {Thoma, Andreas and Stiemer, Luc and Braun, Carsten and Fisher, Alex and Gardi, Alessandro G.}, title = {Potential of hybrid neural network local path planner for small UAV in urban environments}, series = {AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum}, booktitle = {AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum}, publisher = {AIAA}, doi = {10.2514/6.2023-2359}, pages = {13 Seiten}, year = {2023}, abstract = {This work proposes a hybrid algorithm combining an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with a conventional local path planner to navigate UAVs efficiently in various unknown urban environments. The proposed method of a Hybrid Artificial Neural Network Avoidance System is called HANNAS. The ANN analyses a video stream and classifies the current environment. This information about the current Environment is used to set several control parameters of a conventional local path planner, the 3DVFH*. The local path planner then plans the path toward a specific goal point based on distance data from a depth camera. We trained and tested a state-of-the-art image segmentation algorithm, PP-LiteSeg. The proposed HANNAS method reaches a failure probability of 17\%, which is less than half the failure probability of the baseline and around half the failure probability of an improved, bio-inspired version of the 3DVFH*. The proposed HANNAS method does not show any disadvantages regarding flight time or flight distance.}, language = {en} } @techreport{ThomaLaarmannMerkensetal.2020, author = {Thoma, Andreas and Laarmann, Lukas and Merkens, Torsten and Franzke, Till and M{\"o}hren, Felix and Buttermann, Lilly and van der Weem, Dirk and Fischer, Maximilian and Misch, Philipp and B{\"o}hme, Mirijam and R{\"o}th, Thilo and Hebel, Christoph and Ritz, Thomas and Franke, Marina and Braun, Carsten}, title = {Entwicklung eines intermodalen Mobilit{\"a}tskonzeptes f{\"u}r die Pilotregion NRW/Rhein-Maas Euregio und Schaffung voller Kundenakzeptanz durch Transfer von Standards aus dem PKW-Bereich auf ein Flugtaxi : Schlussbericht : Projektakronym: SkyCab (Kategorie B) : Laufzeit in Monaten: 6 : Hauptthema: Kategorie B: Innovative Ideen mit Bezug zu UAS/Flugtaxis}, publisher = {FH Aachen}, address = {Aachen}, pages = {97 Seiten}, year = {2020}, language = {de} } @inproceedings{ThomaFisherBraun2020, author = {Thoma, Andreas and Fisher, Alex and Braun, Carsten}, title = {Improving the px4 avoid algorithm by bio-inspired flight strategies}, series = {DLRK2020 - „Luft- und Raumfahrt - Verantwortung in allen Dimensionen"}, booktitle = {DLRK2020 - „Luft- und Raumfahrt - Verantwortung in allen Dimensionen"}, pages = {10 Seiten}, year = {2020}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{ThomaFisherBertrandetal.2020, author = {Thoma, Andreas and Fisher, Alex and Bertrand, Olivier and Braun, Carsten}, title = {Evaluation of possible flight strategies for close object evasion from bumblebee experiments}, series = {Living Machines 2020: Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems}, booktitle = {Living Machines 2020: Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems}, editor = {Vouloutsi, Vasiliki and Mura, Anna and Tauber, Falk and Speck, Thomas and Prescott, Tony J. and Verschure, Paul F. M. J.}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-030-64312-6}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-64313-3_34}, pages = {354 -- 365}, year = {2020}, language = {en} } @article{StiemerThomaBraun2023, author = {Stiemer, Luc Nicolas and Thoma, Andreas and Braun, Carsten}, title = {MBT3D: Deep learning based multi-object tracker for bumblebee 3D flight path estimation}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {18}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {9}, publisher = {PLOS}, address = {San Fancisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0291415}, pages = {e0291415}, year = {2023}, abstract = {This work presents the Multi-Bees-Tracker (MBT3D) algorithm, a Python framework implementing a deep association tracker for Tracking-By-Detection, to address the challenging task of tracking flight paths of bumblebees in a social group. While tracking algorithms for bumblebees exist, they often come with intensive restrictions, such as the need for sufficient lighting, high contrast between the animal and background, absence of occlusion, significant user input, etc. Tracking flight paths of bumblebees in a social group is challenging. They suddenly adjust movements and change their appearance during different wing beat states while exhibiting significant similarities in their individual appearance. The MBT3D tracker, developed in this research, is an adaptation of an existing ant tracking algorithm for bumblebee tracking. It incorporates an offline trained appearance descriptor along with a Kalman Filter for appearance and motion matching. Different detector architectures for upstream detections (You Only Look Once (YOLOv5), Faster Region Proposal Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN), and RetinaNet) are investigated in a comparative study to optimize performance. The detection models were trained on a dataset containing 11359 labeled bumblebee images. YOLOv5 reaches an Average Precision of AP = 53, 8\%, Faster R-CNN achieves AP = 45, 3\% and RetinaNet AP = 38, 4\% on the bumblebee validation dataset, which consists of 1323 labeled bumblebee images. The tracker's appearance model is trained on 144 samples. The tracker (with Faster R-CNN detections) reaches a Multiple Object Tracking Accuracy MOTA = 93, 5\% and a Multiple Object Tracking Precision MOTP = 75, 6\% on a validation dataset containing 2000 images, competing with state-of-the-art computer vision methods. The framework allows reliable tracking of different bumblebees in the same video stream with rarely occurring identity switches (IDS). MBT3D has much lower IDS than other commonly used algorithms, with one of the lowest false positive rates, competing with state-of-the-art animal tracking algorithms. The developed framework reconstructs the 3-dimensional (3D) flight paths of the bumblebees by triangulation. It also handles and compares two alternative stereo camera pairs if desired.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchildtMarzoccaBraunetal.2019, author = {Schildt, Philipp and Marzocca, Pier and Braun, Carsten and Dahmann, Peter and Keimer, Jona}, title = {Effects of atmospheric excitation on vibration based condition monitoring methods for hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion systems}, series = {AIAC 2018: 18th Australian International Aerospace Congress: HUMS - 11th Defence Science and Technology (DST) International Conference on Health and Usage Monitoring (HUMS 2019): ISSFD - 27th International Symposium on Space Flight Dynamics (ISSFD)}, booktitle = {AIAC 2018: 18th Australian International Aerospace Congress: HUMS - 11th Defence Science and Technology (DST) International Conference on Health and Usage Monitoring (HUMS 2019): ISSFD - 27th International Symposium on Space Flight Dynamics (ISSFD)}, isbn = {9781925627213}, pages = {923 -- 928}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @article{SchildtBraunMarzocca2019, author = {Schildt, Ph. and Braun, Carsten and Marzocca, P.}, title = {Metric evaluating potentials of condition-monitoring approaches for hybrid electric aircraft propulsion systems}, series = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal}, journal = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {1869-5590}, doi = {10.1007/s13272-019-00411-3}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchildtBraunMarcocca2017, author = {Schildt, P. and Braun, Carsten and Marcocca, P.}, title = {Flight testing the extra 330LE flying testbed}, series = {48th Annual International Symposium of the Society of Flight Test Engineers 2017}, booktitle = {48th Annual International Symposium of the Society of Flight Test Engineers 2017}, isbn = {978-151085387-4}, pages = {349 -- 362}, year = {2017}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{RingsLudowicyFingeretal.2019, author = {Rings, Ren{\´e} and Ludowicy, Jonas and Finger, Felix and Braun, Carsten and Bil, Cees}, title = {Sensitivity Analysis of General Aviation Aircraft with Parallel Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Systems}, series = {Asia Pacific International Symposium on Aerospace Technology. APISAT 2019}, booktitle = {Asia Pacific International Symposium on Aerospace Technology. APISAT 2019}, pages = {14 Seiten}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @incollection{ReimerWellmerBraunetal.2009, author = {Reimer, Lars and Wellmer, Georg and Braun, Carsten and Ballmann, Josef}, title = {Computational methods for aero-structural analysis and optimisation of aircrafts based on reduced-order structural models}, series = {MEGADESIGN and MegaOpt - German initiatives for aerodynamic simulation and optimization in aircraft design. Results of the closing symposium of the MEGADESIGN and MegaOpt projects, Braunschweig, Germany, 23 - 24 May, 2007 / Norbert Kroll ... (Eds.) Notes on numerical fluid mechanics and multidisciplinary design. Vol. 107}, booktitle = {MEGADESIGN and MegaOpt - German initiatives for aerodynamic simulation and optimization in aircraft design. Results of the closing symposium of the MEGADESIGN and MegaOpt projects, Braunschweig, Germany, 23 - 24 May, 2007 / Norbert Kroll ... (Eds.) Notes on numerical fluid mechanics and multidisciplinary design. Vol. 107}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {978-3-642-04092-4}, pages = {135 -- 150}, year = {2009}, abstract = {In this part of the MEGADESIGN project, aeroelastic effects are introduced into the aerodynamic analysis of aircrafts by coupling DLR's flow solvers TAU and FLOWer to a Timoshenko-beam solver. The emerging aeroelastic solvers and a method for the automatic identification of Timoshenko-beam models for wing-box structures were integrated into a simulation environment enabling the combined optimisation of aerodynamic wing shape and structure.}, language = {en} } @techreport{ReimerWellmerBraunetal.2007, author = {Reimer, Lars and Wellmer, Georg and Braun, Carsten and Ballmann, Josef}, title = {Aerodynamische Simulation und Optimierung in der Flugzeugentwicklung. Teilvorhabenbezeichnung: Aerodynamische Optimierung unter Ber{\"u}cksichtigung von Struktureigenschaften auf der Basis reduzierter Strukturmodelle, Verbundvorhaben MEGADESIGN. Schlussbericht. Berichtszeitraum: 01.06.2003-31.05.2007. BMBF-Forschungsbericht}, pages = {41 S.: Ill., graph. Darst.}, year = {2007}, language = {de} } @incollection{ReimerBraunWellmeretal.2010, author = {Reimer, Lars and Braun, Carsten and Wellmer, Georg and Behr, Marek and Ballmann, Josef}, title = {Development of a modular method for computational aero-structural analysis of aircraft}, series = {Summary of flow modulation and fluid-structure interaction findings. Results of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 401 at the RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, 1997-2008 / ed.: Wolfgang Schr{\"o}der. Notes on numerical fluid mechanics and multidisciplinary design. Vol. 109}, booktitle = {Summary of flow modulation and fluid-structure interaction findings. Results of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 401 at the RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, 1997-2008 / ed.: Wolfgang Schr{\"o}der. Notes on numerical fluid mechanics and multidisciplinary design. Vol. 109}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {978-3-642-04087-0}, pages = {205 -- 238}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{ReimerBraunChenetal.2007, author = {Reimer, Lars and Braun, Carsten and Chen, B.-H. and Ballmann, Josef}, title = {Computational aeroelastic analysis and design of the HIRENASD wind tunnel wing model and tests}, series = {Proceedings / IFASD 2007, CEAS/AIAA/KTH International Forum on Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics : June 18 - 21, 2007, Stockholm, Sweden}, booktitle = {Proceedings / IFASD 2007, CEAS/AIAA/KTH International Forum on Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics : June 18 - 21, 2007, Stockholm, Sweden}, publisher = {KTH}, address = {Stockholm}, pages = {1 CD-ROM}, year = {2007}, language = {en} } @incollection{ReimerBraunBallmann2007, author = {Reimer, Lars and Braun, Carsten and Ballmann, Josef}, title = {Computational study of the aeroelastic equilibrium configuration of a swept wind tunnel wing model in subsonic flow}, series = {High performance computing in science and engineering '06. Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) 2006 / Wolfgang E. Nagel ... Eds.}, booktitle = {High performance computing in science and engineering '06. Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) 2006 / Wolfgang E. Nagel ... Eds.}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin [u.a.]}, isbn = {978-3-540-36165-7}, pages = {421 -- 434}, year = {2007}, abstract = {In the Collaborative Research Center SFB 401 at RWTH Aachen University, the numerical aeroelastic method SOFIA for direct numerical aeroelastic simulation is being progressively developed. Numerical results obtained by applying SOFIA were compared with measured data of static and dynamic aeroelastic wind tunnel tests for an elastic swept wing in subsonic flow.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{ReimerBraunBallmann2006, author = {Reimer, Lars and Braun, Carsten and Ballmann, Josef}, title = {Analysis of the static and dynamic aero-structural response of an elastic swept wing model by direct aeroelastic simulation}, series = {ICAS 2006 proceedings : 25th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences ; Hamburg, Germany, 3 - 8 September, 2006 : 25th International Congress of Aeronautical Sciences}, booktitle = {ICAS 2006 proceedings : 25th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences ; Hamburg, Germany, 3 - 8 September, 2006 : 25th International Congress of Aeronautical Sciences}, publisher = {Optimage}, address = {Edinburgh}, organization = {International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS)}, isbn = {0-9533991-7-6}, pages = {Paper No. 2006-10.3.3}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{NeuJanserKhatibietal.2016, author = {Neu, Eugen and Janser, Frank and Khatibi, Akbar A. and Braun, Carsten and Orifici, Adrian C.}, title = {Operational Modal Analysis of a wing excited by transonic flow}, series = {Aerospace Science and Technology}, volume = {49}, journal = {Aerospace Science and Technology}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1270-9638}, doi = {10.1016/j.ast.2015.11.032}, pages = {73 -- 79}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) is a promising candidate for flutter testing and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of aircraft wings that are passively excited by wind loads. However, no studies have been published where OMA is tested in transonic flows, which is the dominant condition for large civil aircraft and is characterized by complex and unique aerodynamic phenomena. We use data from the HIRENASD large-scale wind tunnel experiment to automatically extract modal parameters from an ambiently excited wing operated in the transonic regime using two OMA methods: Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) and Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD). The system response is evaluated based on accelerometer measurements. The excitation is investigated from surface pressure measurements. The forcing function is shown to be non-white, non-stationary and contaminated by narrow-banded transonic disturbances. All these properties violate fundamental OMA assumptions about the forcing function. Despite this, all physical modes in the investigated frequency range were successfully identified, and in addition transonic pressure waves were identified as physical modes as well. The SSI method showed superior identification capabilities for the investigated case. The investigation shows that complex transonic flows can interfere with OMA. This can make existing approaches for modal tracking unsuitable for their application to aircraft wings operated in the transonic flight regime. Approaches to separate the true physical modes from the transonic disturbances are discussed.}, language = {en} }