Born: 2nd December 1989
Nationality: Italian
Spoken Languages: Italian (Mothertongue), English (Proficient User), German (Basic User)
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Phone (Office): +39 081 768 23 50
Address (Office): Piazzale V. Tecchio, 80 - 80125, Naples - Italy
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Department of Industrial Engineering - DII
University of Naples "Federico II"
Piazzale V. Tecchio, 80 - 80125, Naples - Italy
Project Name: Ultralight Radar Sensor for Autonomous Operations by Mini- and Micro-UAS
The research activity stems from the recent boost in operations by mini- and micro-UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems, also known as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems - RPAS - or simply drones), the successful miniaturization of electronic components, and the favorable features achievable by means of radar sensors. Despite their ability to provide meaningful information for navigation, sense-and-avoid, and imaging tasks, currently very few radar sensors are exploited onboard or developed for autonomous operations with mini- and micro-UAS. Exploration of indoor complex, dangerous, and not easily accessible environments represents a possible application for mini-UAS based on radar technology. In this scenario, the objective of the thesis is to develop design strategies and processing approaches for a novel ultralight radar sensor able to provide the miniaturized platform with Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) capabilities, mainly but not exclusively indoors. Millimeter-wave Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (mmw InSAR) technology has been identified as a key asset. At the same time, testing of commercial lightweight radar is carried out to assess potentialities towards autonomous navigation, sense-and-avoid, and imaging.
The two main research lines can be outlined as follows:
Long-term scenario:
Development of very compact and ultralight Synthetic Aperture Radar able to provide mini- or micro-UAS with very accurate 3D awareness in indoor or GPS-denied complex and harsh environments.
Short-term scenario:
Assessment of true potentialities of current commercial radar sensors in a UAS-oriented scenario.
Within the framework of long-term scenario, after a review of state-of-art SAR sensors, Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) SAR technology has been selected as preferred candidate. Design procedure tailored to this technology and software simulator for operations have been developed in Matlab environment. Software simulator accounts for the analysis of ambiguous areas in a three-dimensional environment, different SAR focusing algorithms, and a Ray-Tracing algorithm specifically designed for indoor operations. The simulations provided relevant information on actual feasibility of the sensor, as well as mission design characteristics. Additionally, field tests have been carried out at Fraunhofer Institute FHR with a mmw SAR. Processing approaches developed from simulations proved to be effective when dealing with field tests.
A very lightweight FMCW radar sensor manifactured by IMST GmbH has been tested for short-term scenario operations. The codes for data acquisition were developed in Python language both for Windows-based and GNU/Linux-based operative systems. The radar provided information on range and angle of targets in the scene, thus being interesting for radar-based UAS navigation. Multiple-target tracking and radar odometry algorithms have been developed and tested on actual field data. Radar-only odometry provided to be effective under certain circumstances, but an integration with Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) housed onboard the UAS platform guaranteed improved performance.
The research is supported by Regione Campania with the European Social Fund "P.O. Campania 2007/2013-2014/2020".
In the framework of my Ph.D. Scholarship I was selected as participant for
- Fraunhofer FHR International Summer School on Radar/SAR - July 2015
- Fraunhofer IAIS TRADR Summer School on Autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicles - August 2015
Millimeter Wave Radar and High Frequency Sensors MHS
Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR
Wachtberg, Germany
Laurea Magistrale in Aerospace Engineering (Full Marks and Honours) at University of Naples "Federico II" in 2013.
Title of Thesis: Analysis and design of compact lightweight Synthetic Aperture Radar for indoor three-dimensional mapping by small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Supervisor: Prof. Antonio Moccia
Assistant Supervisor: Dr. Alfredo Renga
Laurea Triennale in Aerospace Engineering (Full Marks and Honours) at University of Naples "Federico II" in 2011.
Title of Thesis: Fabbricazione di componenti aerospaziali mediante asportazione di truciolo
Supervisor: Prof. Luigi Carrino
Assistant Supervisor: Ing. Stefano Ciliberto
Radar-based Remote Sensing: Applied Practice, Course on Aerospace Remote Sensing Systems - May, 2016
B.Sc. Thesis in Aerospace Engineering
Candidate: Marco Ruocco. Title of Thesis: Application of multiple-target radar tracking to micro-UAS operations, May 2016.
Department of Industrial Engineering - DII
University of Naples "Federico II"
21, Via Claudio - 80125 Napoli, Italy
The tutorship aimed to help students with learning the basics of their field of studies, in particular Calculus I.
Department of Industrial Engineering - DII
University of Naples "Federico II"
21, Via Claudio - 80125 Napoli, Italy
Compact SAR State-of-Art Analysis. Study of basic principles of FMCW SAR.
Status: Ongoing
This research line deals with the development of very compact and ultralight SAR able to provide mini- or micro-UAS with 3D awareness in indoor or GPS-denied complex and harsh environments. One of the key points is the SAR focusing of mmw FMCW radar signals in the framework of micro-UAS operations. Simulation environment serves as "learning facility".
Status: Ongoing
This research line aims to assess true potentialities of current commercial radar sensors in a UAS-oriented scenario. Main attention is given to radar odometry.
Scannapieco, A.F.; Renga, A.; Moccia, A. Preliminary Study of a Millimeter Wave FMCW InSAR for UAS Indoor Navigation. Sensors 2015, 15(2), 2309-2335. doi: 10.3390/s150202309.
Scannapieco, A.F.; Renga, A.; Moccia, A. Indoor Operations by FMCW Millimeter Wave SAR Onboard Small UAS: A Simulation Approach. Journal of Sensors 2016, 2016. doi: 10.1155/2016/496847.
Scannapieco, A.F.; Renga, A.; Fasano, G.; Moccia, A. Ultralight radar sensor for autonomous operations by micro-UAS. In 2016 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), pp. 727-735, 7-10 June 2016, Arlington, VA, USA, doi: 10.1109/ICUAS.2016.7502664.
Scannapieco, A.F.; Renga, A.; Moccia, A. Investigation on Radar-based Applications for mini-UAS and MAVs. In 2016 17th International Radar Symposium (IRS), pp. 1-6, 10-12 May 2016, Krakow, doi: 10.1109/IRS.2016.7497358.
Scannapieco, A.F.; Renga, A.; Moccia, A. Multi-purposes Radar for Imaging, Navigation, Sense-and-Avoid onboard Mini and Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. In Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2016 IEEE International , 10-15 July 2016, Beijing, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2016.7730918.
Scannapieco, A.F.; Renga, A.; Moccia, A. Performance Analysis of Millimeter Wave FMCW InSAR for UAS Indoor Operations. In Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2015 IEEE International, pp.806-809, 26-31 July 2015, Milan, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2015.7325887.
Scannapieco, A.F.; Renga, A.; Moccia, A. Compact Millimeter Wave FMCW InSAR for UAS Indoor Navigation. In Metrology for Aerospace (MetroAeroSpace), 2015 IEEE , pp.551-556, 4-5 June 2015, Benevento, doi: 10.1109/MetroAeroSpace.2015.7180717.
Scannapieco, A.F.; Renga, A.; Moccia, A. Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave Synthetic Aperture Radar focusing techniques: a review in the framework of indoor autonomous operations by small Unmanned Aerial Systems. XXIII AIDAA Conference, Turin, November 2015, in press.
