Design of a fully fledged Uav test-bed with internal and external pilot

Abstract

This paper presents a non linear automatic UAV simulation testbed and an autonomous control implementation with way point navigation. The UAV simulator is an integrated product that combines a vehicle operator station with a synthetic environment to support UAV research, training and operations while providing the operators (Internal Pilot) with a consistent interface. In the synthetic mission space the simulated air vehicle operates against simulated terrain, weather, and computer generated forces. External pilot also can interact into synthetic simulation testbed. The autonomous control system is based on the Aerosonde UAV and major considerations of controller performance and minimum instability within manual and autonomous switching have been evaluated with full software simulation. Major requirements for the good control system are minimum overshoot, minimum setting time without undesirable oscillation and low cross coupling between high level commands. A MATLAB simulink standard configuration environment and the Aerosim Aeronautical Simulation Block Set are utilized for simulation studies, presented through a flightgear interface and Custom GUI.