Reference Design

UAV

Complete unmanned aerial vehicle reference design with autonomous flight control, navigation systems, and payload integration capabilities for diverse applications.

Overall Project Overview

What We Built

Complete autonomous UAV flight control system with advanced navigation, computer vision, and mission planning capabilities for professional drone applications.

• Multi-rotor and fixed-wing flight control with autonomous operation
• GPS/INS navigation with RTK precision positioning
• Computer vision for obstacle detection and terrain following
• Mission planning with waypoint navigation and payload control
• Encrypted telemetry and command/control systems

Requirements & Design Philosophy

Safety Critical: Multiple redundancy layers with automatic fail-safe procedures and emergency landing capabilities

Autonomous: Full autonomous operation with minimal human intervention for complex missions

Reliable: Military-grade components with extensive testing for harsh environmental conditions

Flexible: Modular design supporting various airframes, payloads, and mission profiles

Secure: Encrypted communications and secure boot with anti-tampering protection

System Architecture

Distributed flight control architecture with separation of flight management, payload control, and communication systems:

• Flight Controller: Real-time flight control with IMU/GPS fusion and attitude stabilization
• Autopilot System: Mission planning and autonomous navigation with computer vision
• Payload Controller: Dedicated processing for camera gimbals and specialized sensors
• Communication System: Dual-band telemetry with encrypted data links
• Power Management: Intelligent battery monitoring with flight time optimization
• Safety Monitor: Independent watchdog system with automatic recovery

Hardware

Platform Choice

Arches Platform (NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX) - Selected for AI processing power and real-time flight control capabilities.

Why chosen: Superior AI inference for computer vision and obstacle avoidance, sufficient processing power for real-time flight control

Hardware parameters: 384-core Volta GPU, 6-core Carmel CPU, 8GB LPDDR4x memory

Design Considerations

Form Factor: Compact flight controller (100mm x 80mm) with lightweight design for various UAV sizes

Power Requirements: Ultra-low power consumption (5-15W) with wide input voltage range (7-36V DC)

Environmental Constraints: -40°C to +85°C operation, vibration resistance per MIL-STD-810, IP67 ingress protection

Requirements & Design Philosophy: Redundant power supplies with automatic switching, EMI shielding for reliable operation

OS/Firmware

OS Chosen & Configuration

Yocto Linux with real-time extensions - Selected for deterministic performance and minimal resource usage in flight-critical applications.

Why chosen: Predictable timing for flight control loops, small footprint for resource-constrained UAV applications

Kernel configuration: Real-time scheduling with CPU isolation for critical flight control threads

OS configuration: Minimal system with only essential services, optimized boot time for quick deployment

Drivers & Requirements

Drivers developed: High-precision IMU drivers, GPS/GNSS receivers, camera interfaces, telemetry radio drivers

Requirements & Design Philosophy: Synchronized sensor sampling for accurate state estimation, low-latency communication protocols, watchdog protection for continuous flight safety

Middleware

Middleware Chosen

PX4 Autopilot Framework - Industry-standard UAV middleware with proven flight control algorithms and extensive ecosystem support.

Why chosen: De facto standard in professional UAV industry with extensive testing and community support

Requirements & Design Philosophy: Modular architecture for easy customization, uORB publish-subscribe messaging for real-time data flow

Interfaces

Flight Interfaces: MAVLink protocol for ground station communication and mission planning

Sensor Interfaces: Standardized APIs for IMU, GPS, magnetometer, and airspeed sensors

Payload Interfaces: PWM and serial interfaces for camera gimbals and specialized equipment

Application

Applications Developed

Autonomous UAV Control System - Complete flight control software with advanced autonomy features and mission capabilities.

• Advanced flight control with attitude stabilization and position hold

• Autonomous navigation with waypoint following and terrain avoidance

• Computer vision for object detection and tracking

• Mission planning with conditional execution and payload control

Interfaces & Requirements

Interfaces: MAVLink APIs for ground station integration, RESTful APIs for mission planning, WebSocket interfaces for real-time telemetry

Requirements & Design Philosophy: Fail-safe operation with multiple recovery modes, comprehensive logging for flight analysis, modular design for different UAV configurations

Support Apps

Desktop

Mission planning and flight analysis software for route creation, parameter tuning, and post-flight data review with detailed telemetry visualization.

Cloud

UAV fleet management platform for mission coordination, real-time monitoring, and automated data processing and analytics.

Mobile

Field operation apps for pre-flight checks, real-time flight monitoring, and emergency control with simplified interfaces for field operators.

Other Support

Cloud Interface & Diagnostics

Advanced cloud connectivity for UAV fleet management, diagnostics, and mission data processing.

• Secure telemetry streaming with end-to-end encryption

• Real-time flight monitoring and command/control

• Automated diagnostics with predictive maintenance alerts

• Mission data processing and computer vision analytics

Profiling & Requirements

Performance Profiling: Flight efficiency analysis, battery optimization, and system resource monitoring tools

Requirements & Design Philosophy: Comprehensive flight testing with automated validation, detailed telemetry logging for incident analysis, continuous monitoring for fleet reliability

Final Overview

What Will Be Delivered

Complete production-ready UAV flight control system with hardware, software, documentation, and support tools.

• Assembled and tested flight controller hardware
• Complete PX4-based software stack and applications
• Comprehensive safety and certification documentation
• Mission planning and ground station software
• Integration guides and API documentation
• Technical support and training services

Requirements & Design Philosophy

Production Ready: All components meet aviation standards and are validated for commercial UAV operations

Customizable: Flexible architecture supports different airframes and mission requirements

Safe: Multiple safety layers ensure reliable operation with comprehensive fail-safe procedures

Autonomous: Advanced autonomy features reduce operator workload and increase mission success