UAV Platform Demonstrations

1
UAV Platform Demonstrations
Center for the Collaborative Control of Unmanned
Vehicles (C3UV)

• UC Berkeley
• Derek Caveney

2
Demonstrated Capabilities of Platform

• A distributed multi-aircraft system where each
  aircraft has its own on-board autonomy.
  Distributed task allocation and conflict
  resolution performed in the air.
• Inter-vehicle communications using the 2.4GHz ISM
  band. Mission plans and states shared among all
  aircraft.
• Ground-to-Aircraft communications necessary only
  for relaying new mission plans from mission
  control.
• Vision-in-the-loop navigation of locally-linear
  features

3
Overview of Demonstrations

• Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) demonstration with
  three planes performing location visit and border
  patrol tasks on demand.
• Two-plane flight demonstration with vision-based
  canal following task permissible
• Three-plane flight demonstration with location
  visit and border patrol tasks with dynamic
  reallocation of resources.

4
Current Collaborative Architecture

• Mission statements are relayed from the ground to
  all aircraft.
• Each plane without a task picks the closest
  available task for itself. Each plane allocates
  tasks only for itself.
• Conflicts in task allocation are resolved using
  Euclidean distance.
• Each aircraft broadcasts its current state and
  its knowledge of other vehicles states. It only
  has overwriting permissions for its own state.
• More involved communication, tasking, and
  conflict resolution protocols are currently under
  development for future system integration

5
Current Collaborative Architecture
Task 1
Border Patrol
Allocated Task 1
Task 2
Location Visit
6
Aircraft Level Architecture
Payload Responsible for Relaying Commands between
the PC-104 and Mission Control
Piccolo Responsible for Relaying Commands between
the PC-104 and Aircraft Avionics
Database Permits inter-process communication
Vision Processing Frame Grabbing Capabilities
Orinoco Inter-vehicular communication protocol
Switchboard Task Allocation, Conflict Resolution,
and Controller Switching
Vision Control For Turn-Rate Based Path Following
Waypoint Control For Single-Point Visits
Orbit Control For Closed-Loop Multi-Point Paths
7
System Level Architecture
Mission Control
Ground-to-Air Communications
Air-to-Air Communications (802.11b)
Collaboration
Collaboration
Switchboard
Switchboard
UAV Piccolo Autopilot
UAV Piccolo Autopilot
Aircraft 1
Aircraft 2
8
Mission Control

• Mission control is the single operator interface
  with the fleet of UAVs.
• Mission Programming, Transmission, and Monitoring
  are performed within the Mission Control GUI.
• Available resources and permissible tasks are
  checked against the desired commanded mission.

9
Mission Control
10
(No Transcript)
11
Process Control

• Process Control is C3UVs development interface
  with the fleet.
• From within the Process Control GUI, researchers
  can
• adjust design parameters
• enable and disable processes
• trigger telemetry logging
• receive valuable debugging feedback from the
  fleet
• while the planes are in flight.

12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
Aircraft Control

• Low-level, off-the-shelf, avionics package from
  CloudCap Technologies.
• GPS
• Gyros and Accelerometers
• Flight surface authority in either autonomous or
  manual mode
• Ground Station link for operators

15
Current UAV Platform Configuration

• Wing-Mounted Camera allowing for vision-based
  control, surveillance, and obstacle avoidance
• Ground-to-Air UHF Antenna for ground operator
  interface
• GPS Antenna for navigation
• 802.11b Antenna for A-2-A comm.
• Payload Tray for on-board computations and
  devices
• Payload Switch Access Door for enabling /
  disabling on-board devices

16
Current Payload Configuration

• Off-the-shelf PC-104 with custom Vibration
  Isolation for on-board recording.
• Orinoco 802.11b Card and Amplifier for A-2-A
  comm.
• Analog Video Transmitter for surveillance
  purposes
• Printed Circuit Board for Power and Signal
  Distribution among devices.
• Umbilical Cord Mass Disconnect for single point
  attachment of electronics to aircraft.
• Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor Mass Disconnect for
  access to PC-104 through trap door while on the
  ground.

17
UC Berkeley UAV Flight Operations
UAV Flight Operations Conducted at Crows Landing
Flight Facility
18
Vision-in-the-loop at Crows Landing
19
Demonstration Agenda

• This Afternoon
• Interaction with a three-plane,
  Hardware-In-The-Loop demonstration where the only
  difference from Crows Landing will be that the
  planes dynamics will be simulated.
• This Evening
• Following dinner, Professors Hedrick and Sengupta
  will accompany you to the Best Western Villa Del
  Lago in Patterson CA (6 miles from Crows Landing
  Flight Facility).
• Tomorrow Morning
• Two flights are planned. One with two-planes
  with vision-based canal following demonstrated.
  The other with three-planes capable of the
  missions shown within HIL.