Christian Morales Guerrero

Mr. Christian Morales Guerrero

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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

5Years (2022-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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11 March 2022 in Drones
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
JWJamie Wubben
Jamie Wubben
CGChristian Morales Guerrero
Christian Morales Guerrero
Carlos T. CalafateCarlos T. Calafate
Carlos T. Calafate
Enrique Hernandez-OralloEnrique Hernandez-Orallo
Enrique Hernandez-Orallo
Juan-Carlos CanoJuan-Carlos Cano
Juan-Carlos Cano
Pietro ManzoniPietro Manzoni
Pietro Manzoni
The field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has progressed greatly in the last years. UAVs are now used for many applications and are often flown automatically. One commonly implemented feature in an automatic flight is that of following a mission at a stable altitude. However, this altitude is almost always referenced from the take-off location and does not take terrain profile levels into account. This is a critical and dangerous issue because if the terrain level changes abruptly (e.g., mountain regions or buildings in a city), this can lead to crashes or an unintended (illegal) high altitude. Our aim for this work is to provide a solution such that a constant altitude above ground level is maintained. To this end, we make use of the readily available Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). These models, which contain the terrain elevation, help us in dynamically adjusting the VTOL UAV altitude so that it remains nearly constant in relation to the ground. Results have shown that with the use of our method, the altitude can be maintained sufficiently constant while introducing a limited increase in flight time and battery consumption that is proportional to the terrain’s irregularity. In a moderately changing terrain, the error could be reduced to just ±5 m.