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This paper presents an adaptation of the distributed-spline-based aberration reconstruction method for Shack-Hartmann (SH) slope measurements to extremely large-scale adaptive optics systems and the execution on graphics processing units (GPUs). The introduction of a hierarchical multi-level scheme for the elimination of piston offsets between the locally computed wavefront (WF) estimates solves the piston error propagation observed for a large number of partitions with the original version. To obtain a fully distributed method for WF correction, the projection of the phase estimates is locally approximated and applied in a distributed fashion, providing stable results for low and medium actuator coupling. An implementation of the method with the parallel computing platform CUDA exploits the inherently distributed nature of the algorithm. With a standard off-the-shelf GPU, the computation of the adaptive optics correction updates is accomplished in under 1 ms for the benchmark case of a 200×200 SH array.

We propose an extension of the Spline based ABerration Reconstruction (SABRE) method to Shack-Hartmann (SH) intensity measurements, through small aberration approximations of the focal spot models. The original SABRE for SH slope measurements is restricted to the use of linear spline polynomials, due to the limited amount of data, and the resolution of its reconstruction is determined by the number of lenslets. In this work, a fast algorithm is presented that directly processes the pixel information of the focal spots, allowing the employment of nonlinear polynomials for high accuracy reconstruction. In order to guarantee the validity of the small aberration approximations, the method is applied in two correction steps, with a first compensation of large, low-order aberrations through the gradient-based linear SABRE followed by compensation of the remaining high-order aberrations with the intensity-based nonlinear SABRE.

We propose a spline-based aberration reconstruction method through moment measurements (SABRE-M). The method uses first and second moment information from the focal spots of the SH sensor to reconstruct the wavefront with bivariate simplex B-spline basis functions. The proposed method, since it provides higher order local wavefront estimates with quadratic and cubic basis functions can provide the same accuracy for SH arrays with a reduced number of subapertures and, correspondingly, larger lenses which can be beneficial for application in low light conditions. In numerical experiments the performance of SABRE-M is compared to that of the first moment method SABRE for aberrations of different spatial orders and for different sizes of the SH array. The results show that SABRE-M is superior to SABRE, in particular for the higher order aberrations and that SABRE-M can give equal performance as SABRE on a SH grid of halved sampling.

Evolutionary Robotics allows robots with limited sensors and processing to tackle complex tasks by means of sensory-motor coordination. In this article we show the first application of the Behavior Tree framework on a real robotic platform using the evolutionary robotics methodology. This framework is used to improve the intelligibility of the emergent robotic behavior over that of the traditional neural network formulation. As a result, the behavior is easier to comprehend and manually adapt when crossing the reality gap from simulation to reality. This functionality is shown by performing real-world flight tests with the 20-g DelFly Explorer flapping wing micro air vehicle equipped with a 4-g onboard stereo vision system. The experiments show that the DelFly can fully autonomously search for and fly through a window with only its onboard sensors and processing. The success rate of the optimized behavior in simulation is 88%, and the corresponding real-world performance is 54% after user adaptation. Although this leaves room for improvement, it is higher than the 46% success rate from a tuned user-defined controller.

The distributed-spline-based aberration reconstruction (D-SABRE) method is proposed for distributed wavefront reconstruction with applications to large-scale adaptive optics systems. D-SABRE decomposes the wavefront sensor domain into any number of partitions and solves a local wavefront reconstruction problem on each partition using multivariate splines. D-SABRE accuracy is within 1% of a global approach with a speedup that scales quadratically with the number of partitions. The D-SABRE is compared to the distributed cumulative reconstruction (CuRe-D) method in open-loop and closed-loop simulations using the YAO adaptive optics simulation tool. D-SABRE accuracy exceeds CuRe-D for low levels of decomposition, and D-SABRE proved to be more robust to variations in the loop gain.

An accurate knowledge of the unsteady aerodynamic forces acting on a bio-inspired, flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FWMAV) is crucial in the design development and optimization cycle. Two different types of experimental approaches are often used: determination of forces from position data obtained from external optical tracking during free flight, or direct measurements of forces by attaching the FWMAV to a force transducer in a wind-tunnel. This study compares the quality of the forces obtained from both methods as applied to a 17.4 gram FWMAV capable of controlled flight. A comprehensive analysis of various error sources is performed. The effects of different factors, e.g., measurement errors, error propagation, numerical differentiation, filtering frequency selection, and structural eigenmode interference, are assessed. For the forces obtained from free flight experiments it is shown that a data acquisition frequency below 200 Hz and an accuracy in the position measurements lower than ± 0.2 mm may considerably hinder determination of the unsteady forces. In general, the force component parallel to the fuselage determined by the two methods compares well for identical flight conditions; however, a significant difference was observed for the forces along the stroke plane of the wings. This was found to originate from the restrictions applied by the clamp to the dynamic oscillations observed in free flight and from the structural resonance of the clamped FWMAV structure, which generates loads that cannot be distinguished from the external forces. Furthermore, the clamping position was found to have a pronounced influence on the eigenmodes of the structure, and this effect should be taken into account for accurate force measurements.

This paper presents a new method for zonal wavefront reconstruction (WFR) with application to adaptive optics systems. This new method, indicated as Spline based ABerration REconstruction (SABRE), uses bivariate simplex B-spline basis functions to reconstruct the wavefront using local wavefront slope measurements. The SABRE enables WFR on nonrectangular and partly obscured sensor grids and is not subject to the waffle mode. The performance of SABRE is compared to that of the finite difference (FD) method in numerical experiments using data from a simulated Shack-Hartmann lenslet array. The results show that SABRE offers superior reconstruction accuracy and noise rejection capabilities compared to the FD method.