Cornell Autonomous Aerial RoboticsThe pursuit of a versatile modular autonomous guidance package for fixed wing aircraft

摘要

Cornell University’s entrant into the first annual AUVSI Student UAVCompetition is based entirely on simple, robust, off-the-shelf subsystems, integrated in anovel way. Our flight vehicle is a readily available ARF Super Decathlon with a 96”wingspan, which has been modified to support an increased payload for a gross take offweight of thirty two pounds. The powerhouse for the vehicle is a 3W 35cc two strokegasoline engine, chosen for it’s reliability and proven fuel efficiency. The autonomousguidance package is based around an i386 PC104+ computer running Windows XPEmbedded and a Micropilot MP2000 autopilot system. The aircraft’s navigation systemsare handled by the MP2000 which gives our aircraft the ability to take of autonomously,fly routes based on waypoints, and land autonomously. This integrated autopilot is key toour rapid prototyping process, and allows us to concentrate on the integration of ourvision systems. The onboard i386 computer is equipped with a frame grabber in order tocapture images from the onboard video camera. This computer also talks with the groundstation and relays commands to the autopilot system. We have developed a customground station in order to communicate with the aircraft and handle the mission imageanalysis post processing. We have chosen to use all proven systems in our vehicle inorder to concentrate on the task of integration and flight testing. This design process hasyielded an incredibly versatile and reliable vehicle.