North Carolina State University
Aerial Robotics Club
Monday, May 24, 2010
The North Carolina State Aerial Robotics Club is entering the ArcWulf Unmanned
Aircraft System (UAS) into the 2010 Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
International (AUVSI) Student UAS competition. ArcWulf is a 26-pound fixed wing
aircraft with an 8 foot wingspan. It is controlled using a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
Piccolo LT autopilot and an imagery payload consisting of a flight computer and a Nikon
D60 camera. The Piccolo, flight computer and camera run on a 11.1V Lithium Polymer
(LiPo) battery and the control surfaces run off a 4.8V Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH)
batteries. A 4 stroke glow fuel engine is used for the engine to power the 26 pound
ArcWulf. The camera orientation is nadir pointed by the autopilot, while the flight
computer handles the camera control. The imagery system provides high-resolution still
imagery of the search area with a geo-referenced downlink to a trailer based ground
station for real-time data analysis. A safety pilot uses 2.4 GHz Spektrum RC
communication system for manual control of the aircraft if necessary, while the autopilot
command and control link operates at 900 MHz. The imagery link uses the 5 GHz 802.11a
communication standard. Operational procedures are used to keep all personnel safe
during missions.
Table of Contents
I.
System Design Overview ............................................................................................................. 3
II.
Vehicle ...................................................................................................................................... 4
A. Engine ..................................................................................................................................................................4
B. Electrical System..................................................................................................................................................5
C. Batteries ...............................................................................................................................................................5
III.
Autopilot ................................................................................................................................... 5
A. Flight Algorithm ..................................................................................................................................................6
B. Peripherals............................................................................................................................................................6
C. Safety Switch .......................................................................................................................................................6
D. Flight Path ............................................................................................................................................................7
E. Gimbal Control Features ......................................................................................................................................7
IV.
Imagery .................................................................................................................................... 7
A. Imagery System Overview ...................................................................................................................................7
B. Onboard Imagery System Workflow ...................................................................................................................8
C. Camera .................................................................................................................................................................8
D. Gimbal..................................................................................................................................................................8
E. Onboard Computer ...............................................................................................................................................9
F. Autonomous Tracking Antenna ...........................................................................................................................9
G. Ground Station Imagery Workflow......................................................................................................................9
H. Imagery Viewer Overview ................................................................................................................................. 10
I. Imagery Viewer Details ..................................................................................................................................... 11
V.
Mission Planning ...................................................................................................................... 11
VI.
Operations............................................................................................................................... 12
A. Safety ................................................................................................................................................................. 12
B. Flight Line Crew ................................................................................................................................................ 13
C. Trailer Crew ....................................................................................................................................................... 13
VII. Flight Testing and Evaluation .................................................................................................... 13
Appendix 1- Aircraft Systems Communication Flow ............................................................................ 15
Appendix 2-Image Collection and Data Processing Pipeline................................................................... 16
Appendix 3-Flight Line Setup ............................................................................................................ 17
Appendix 4-Go/No-Go Criteria .......................................................................................................... 18
Appendix 5-Failure Mode Effect Analysis ........................................................................................... 19
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I. System Design Overview
The NCSU Aerial Robotics club began with the 8’ Telemaster design because it has proven to be
simple to build, easy to fly, and a stable imagery platform. The fuselage has been significantly
widened and strengthened to fulfill the derived requirement of carrying a 10-pound systems
payload. The relatively simple construction of the Telemaster allows for timely repairs or
construction of a backup aircraft should a crash occur. The landing gear is modified and designed
to fail prior to causing permanent damage to the fuselage in the event of a hard landing.
The autopilot portion of any autonomous vehicle is often the most important for ensuring reliable
and safe operation of the vehicle. The Piccolo LT autopilot was selected for its reliability, ease of
use and its ability to meet all autonomous mission goals.
Safety was a critical factor in the design and construction of ArcWulf. Failure Mode Effect
Analysis (FMEA) was conducted to help improve standard operating procedures. Redundant
systems are used for telemetry and manual control of the aircraft. Finally, the system was
designed to be as reusable and robust as possible with the understanding that hard landings
would likely occur.
The imagery system was redesigned from previous years to better fulfill mission objectives.
Since the targets are not moving, still photography is used as it provides superior resolution to
what could be achieved through full motion video. A high resolution Digital Single-Lens Reflex
(DSLR) camera mounted in a custom two-axis, orthorectifying gimbal was chosen as the basis
for the imagery platform. The gimbal is designed to point off-axis of nadir to capture targets that
are not directly under the path of flight. It was determined that a flight computer based on readily
available, reliable and inexpensive ITX form factor hardware would be used to collect the
images onboard the aircraft and send them to the ground. The images and embedded telemetry
would be sent to the ground over a fast, high-powered 5 GHz 802.11a wireless link capable of
rapidly transmitting high resolution photos. An auto-tracking antenna is installed on the ground
to maintain high wireless signal strength.
The entire software library was rebuilt for higher performance and ease of use. A multi-pronged
software system was built allowing one main program to display the images while several
smaller programs perform enhancement tasks on the pictures. This allowed additional features to
be added in a modular fashion, reducing the time spent developing. The resulting software is
operable on a high-end desktop, but with the added capability of being distributed across several
laptops if available.
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II. Vehicle
Figure 1 – ArcWulf Front Fuselage Layout
The fuselage has been widened and made taller than stock to add clearance between the ground
and the camera lens, and a 5.5”x 11” x 4” camera bay has been cut in the fuselage to allow for
the external mounting of the gimbal and camera. A carbon fiber spar has been added to the stock
eight foot wing to account for increased wing loading due to the added payload weight. The wing
brace that attaches the wing to the fuselage is now removable for quick and easy access to the
payload. An Ethernet port is installed in the fuselage to allow quick access to the computer for
troubleshooting and fast download of any remaining images in the queue once the plane has
landed. The landing gear has been changed from the stock tail dragger configuration to a tricycle
landing gear to improve ground handling. As a result of this change, the C.G has moved further
forward to balance the aircraft while on the ground. The main landing gear is constructed of 1/8”
thick 3003 aluminum sheet for dampening on landing. The soft temper of the alloy allows the
landing gear to bend and subsequently fail prior to the fuselage in cases of hard landings. Finally,
the engine and all payload components are vibration mounted to reduce the effects of piston
engine vibration.
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Figure 2 – Removable Wing Brace (Right), Main Landing Gear and Ethernet Port (Left)
A. Engine
The NCSU UAS uses a four-stroke O.S FS120III engine in conjunction with a 24oz fuel tank. A
four-stroke engine was chosen over the two-stroke engine used in previous years because of the
added reliability, lessened vibration, and higher takeoff and landing performance. The FS120III
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engine also provides 38% greater fuel economy than comparable two-stroke engines, translating
to a 25 minutes flight time with a 5-minute reserve. A tachometer is now installed on the engine
to provide the safety pilot enough warning to land the plane should the engine fail mid-flight.
The tachometer also aids the Piccolo in controlling airspeed when auto-landing the ArcWulf.
B. Electrical System
The NCSU ArcWulf relies on two primary power buses, a 12 V bus and a 5 V bus. The 5 V bus
is exclusively used to power the control surface servos, R/C receiver, and safety switch. The
onboard computer and camera payload is powered by the 12 V bus, thereby isolating payload
power from the critical R/C power bus. Linear voltage regulators are used to convert 12 V power
to 5 V power for gimbal payload servos. A power distribution unit is located in the tail section of
the aircraft. The switch panel in the tail allows the operators to switch easily between ground
power and flight power and turn individual system components on and off without having to
reach near the spinning propeller. All internal connections are made using locking and keyed
connectors that have proved reliable over hundreds of flight test hours at NCSU.
C. Batteries
ArcWulf relies on two batteries for flight operations. A 4.8V, 2000 mAh Nickel-Metal Hydride
battery powers the 5 V bus while an 11.1 V, 5000 mAh Lithium Polymer battery powers the 12
V payload bus. Our system has demonstrated the ability to provide over 45 minutes of battery
life across both power rails under flight conditions. Battery voltages are monitored by the
autopilot operator during flight and the plane is landed if the voltage drops below a safety
threshold.
III.
Autopilot
NCSU’s autopilot, a Cloud Cap Technology’s Piccolo LT, is capable of the following:
•
Navigating by GPS waypoints
•
Receiving commands mid-flight
•
Providing telemetry to peripherals
•
Providing telemetry to ground station
Three years of experience with this autopilot has shown the Piccolo to be a reliable and rugged
component that is easy to tune for the Telemaster aircraft and performs the required mission
well.
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A. Flight Algorithm
The Piccolo LT uses a six-degree of freedom inertial measurement unit, global positioning
system, and air pressure sensors to maintain good reference to the aircraft attitude during flight.
The Piccolo controls the aircraft based on aircraft geometry and gains provided by the NCSU
autopilot operator. Measurement of the geometry is done in the lab, while gains are calibrated
during flight tests after base assessments using the provided AVL modeling software. The design
of the aircraft produces stable flight characteristics that expedite the tuning of the Piccolo. Once
properly tuned, the Piccolo LT achieves stable flight characteristics that improve the ability of
the Telemaster to serve as a solid and stable imagery platform.
B. Peripherals
The autopilot system interfaces with both the aircraft and imagery sub-systems. This interface is
simplified through the use of a wiring harness that allows a single plug to connect the autopilot
to the aircraft. The antennas and pitot-static tubes are connected separately. The GPS antenna is
mounted on the tail boom of the aircraft separating it from interference with a ground plane to
increase the antenna’s sensitivity and RFI resistance. Pitot and static probes are mounted 22” out
on the left and right wings respectively and several inches away from the leading edge of the
wing to avoid the slipstream of the propeller. A 900 MHz telemetry antenna is connected to the
Piccolo and exits the top of the aircraft. This half-wave antenna improves sensitivity over the
quarter-wave antenna used in previous years. Telemetry from the Piccolo is transmitted over the
900 MHz link to the Cloud Cap ground station. The ground station makes the telemetry available
across the network to provide support for the autonomous tracking antenna.
A magnetometer provides supplemental information on the heading of the aircraft. This enables
the aircraft to determine its heading while stationary and determine actual heading of the aircraft
rather than the track of the aircraft. This capability allows the aircraft to perform wheeled takeoff and landing and allows imagery software to correct for crabbing in the photographs during
windy conditions.
C. Safety Switch
Servo commands coming from the autopilot are fed into a safety switch box. This box is
controlled by the RC link that switches control of the aircraft between the autopilot and the
safety pilot. The primary function of the safety switch is to allow the human pilot to take control
of the plane regardless of the autopilot’s status. A system schematic for this setup is located in
Appendix 1. In the event of a loss of connection to the plane for 30 seconds, the safety switch
defaults the control surfaces and throttle to preset failsafe conditions.
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D. Flight Path
The Piccolo is controlled by the Piccolo Command Center run on a computer in the ground
station trailer. This software easily allows the operator to designate GPS waypoints as well as
view telemetry from the aircraft. Waypoints can be added, removed, or moved during flight to
change the flight path as desired. It also allows for Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-inthe-Loop (HIL) simulation. Both of the functions are valuable in the training of operators and the
verification of the Piccolo control gains.
E. Gimbal Control Features
After some research, it was determined that a simple plug-in could be written to control the
gimbal for the DSLR camera.
Figure 3 – Camera Gimbal Plug-in Interface
Figure 3 above shows the user interface for the camera gimbal plug-in. The “Stow” button
commands the gimbal to a position that puts the lens as far from the ground as possible to help
protect it during landings. The “Auto-Stow” feature automatically repositions the gimbal to this
“farthest from ground” position when the aircraft is in a “non-flying” state as defined by the
Piccolo and points the camera nadir while in flight mode. A non-flying state is defined by the
Piccolo as preflight, take-off, and landing. The Nadir button points the camera straight down for
taking orthographic pictures of the ground and is the primary mode used for imaging the search
area. The arrow gives the user a graphical feedback of the current roll of the gimbal relative to
the earth. The Angle and Offset features allow for photographing an off-center target. Using the
Angle feature keeps the camera at a constant angle offset with respect to its normal nadir
condition. The Orbit feature allows simple targeting of the “Pop-up” target when orbited by the
vehicle by keeping the camera aimed at a single point on the ground. These features are
sufficient for all competition and testing purposes.
IV.
Imagery
A. Imagery System Overview
The basic goal of the NCSU imagery system is to acquire the best possible photos of the mission
area and transmit them to the ground station in real time. On the ground, our operators are
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equipped with custom tools for imagery analysis, which enable them to rapidly search for and
identify targets. The system is designed for redundancy and reliability, with care taken to ensure
that the system continues to function with the failure of certain error-prone systems such as the
real-time data transmission link. The following subsections detail each of the components of the
onboard and ground-based systems.
B. Onboard Imagery System Workflow
The onboard portion of the NCSU imagery system consists of a high-resolution digital still
camera, an onboard computer which provides the interface between the camera, autopilot, and a
high-powered 5 GHz 802.11a wireless networking card, and a stabilizing gimbal mount. The
camera is controlled over a USB 2.0 connection using the PTP protocol, while autopilot
telemetry is received from the payload serial port of the Piccolo autopilot. Onboard software
commands the camera to take a photo and downloads the image data. Next, the software embeds
the latest autopilot telemetry packet into the image header and transmits the image to a ground
station computer connected to the wireless network. Image acquisition and transmission are
executed in parallel. Each image is also archived onboard to a Solid State Disk, ensuring that the
imagery data will be recorded regardless of the performance of the wireless link.
C. Camera
The NCSU imagery system is built around a Nikon D60 Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR)
camera. The DSLR design and quality lens enable faster shutter speeds and improved image
quality over smaller cameras with the same sensor resolution. At the camera’s native resolution
of 10.2 megapixels (3872 x 2592 pixels) the camera delivers more than 36 times more pixels
across the image compared to a 640x480 Sony Block Camera or webcam.
D. Gimbal
The D60 is mounted in a stabilized nadir-pointing camera mount. It was designed in SolidWorks
and printed using the university’s 3D printer to reduce the overall weight of the design, decrease
the time needed to construct, and increase the precision of the final product. This camera mount
primarily functions to point the camera towards the ground, reducing perspective distortion
caused by changes in aircraft attitude. The gimbal is vibration mounted to the fuselage using
rubber isolators. The gimbal servos are driven directly by the Piccolo, using the Piccolo
Command Center plug-in detailed above to enable ‘stare’, ‘stow’, and ‘roll’ modes.
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Figure 4 – Gimbal Mount SolidWorks Model
E. Onboard Computer
The onboard computer was selected to provide a compromise between performance, peripheral
availability, size, and power requirements. The final configuration is based on an Intel Atom
Dual Core processor operating at 1.6 GHz. An Ubiquiti XtremeRange5 5 GHz long-range
802.11a wireless card provides 25 dBi of transmit power through a 6 dBi omnidirectional
antenna. The 5 GHz frequency band was selected to provide sufficient frequency clearance from
the 900 MHz autopilot communication link and the 2.4 GHz RC link. A side benefit is the
availability of smaller high-gain antennas for both the ground and airborne systems. Flight tests
indicate a nominal data rate of approximately 10 Mb/s can be maintained throughout a
competition flight profile, resulting in a download rate of about one image every three seconds.
All transmissions between the aircraft and ground are conducted using the SSH2 protocol.
Although there is a small computational penalty for encrypting traffic, the benefits of enhanced
data security is high enough to our group that encryption is seen as a benefit and is included in
the data transfer.
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F. Autonomous Tracking Antenna
To maintain a Wi-Fi link with the plane while it is in motion, the ground station 16 dBi 5 GHz
antenna is mounted on a two-axis gimbal. The gimbal motors are connected to an h-bridge driver
which is controlled by an Atmega168 microcontroller. Two linear potentiometers are also
attached to each motor. The Atmega168 monitors the analog signals of the potentiometers to
determine the position of the antenna. An additional program running on a computer in the
trailer interfaces with the Atmega168 through a serial USB connection. This program was
written in C using the libproj4 library to compute the GPS location of the plane using telemetry
data being streamed over the network in the trailer. The plane’s GPS coordinates are then
converted to spherical coordinates, which are sent to the Atmega168. The Atmega168 then uses
a proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control interface comparing the old spherical
coordinates to the new. This PID allows the antenna to track the plane smoothly.
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In the case of a networking failure, the auto-tracking antenna has a manual mode. In this mode,
the user controls the antenna with a modified remote control transmitter. The user has full range
of motion of the antenna, and this mode can be activated by simply flipping a switch on the
antenna. Overall, this system enables real-time tracking of the plane in flight and provides an
optimal link in order to download images as quickly as possible.
G. Ground Station Imagery Workflow
Once the images arrive on the ground, the receiving application corrects for lens distortion and
generates down-sampled (lower-resolution, smaller size) versions of the original image. The
images and associated metadata from the autopilot are inserted into a database. Both the images
and the database are stored on a four-disk redundant (RAID 1+0) array to guarantee performance
and reliability on the flight line. All intermediate images are stored to the database, including the
raw image as transmitted from the aircraft and the undistorted, down-sampled images. Images in
the database can be searched and sorted by flight, location, and any of the other telemetry fields
(altitude, aircraft attitude, etc.). This allows analysis applications to efficiently select the best
images for display to the user or compare images of the same scene between flights.
Figure 5 – (Left to Right) 10 MP (D60), 3 MP, 0.3 MP (Webcam)
H. Imagery Viewer Overview
The images and data are loaded by an imagery viewer application, which may be run on the same
machine as the database or on a separate machine connected to the server using gigabit-Ethernet.
The imagery viewer application provides the operator with the tools required to complete the key
identification and location tasks required by the mission goals. Images are displayed in their
approximate locations and orientations, as recorded by the autopilot telemetry packet at the time
the image was acquired. As new images are loaded into the database, the view is automatically
updated to include new images. The viewer provides familiar pan-zoom functionality, just as in
common commercial applications.
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Figure 6 – Imagery Viewer Screenshot
Additional features are implemented to support the specific requirements of the competition.
These include target tagging and characteristic identification. Target tagging is the registration of
the GPS location and the orientation of the target. The interface allows characteristic
identification to be entered including shape, primary color, secondary color, and alphanumeric.
At the conclusion of the mission, the operator can then generate a document that includes all
targeting information as per the request for proposal.
I.
Imagery Viewer Details
The images captured by the camera are very high-resolution. Modern high-end graphics
hardware is leveraged to display many images at the same time without sacrificing performance.
Manual imagery analysis is severely hampered by sluggish response in the viewer. Most of the
time this is caused by overflowing the image (texture) memory on the graphics card, resulting in
slow ‘swapping’ of data between the graphics card and system memory. Our software attempts
to minimize this problem by intelligently loading the minimum resolution image (from the
selection of down-sampled images stored on the server) required to display the scene. The
caching strategy uses the distance from the ‘eye point’ of the viewer to each individual image in
order to select the appropriate image to load. Each image is ranked in terms of priority, and a
limited number of high-resolution images are loaded in order of priority. If the operator zooms
out so that all images are visible, the viewer will load the smallest thumbnail version of each
image. As the operator zooms in towards an individual image, the viewer will begin to display
fewer higher-resolution images corresponding to the smaller viewing area selected.
V. Mission Planning
Mission planning for the NC State UAS is a flight-critical task developed prior to the aircraft
leaving the hangar. The system is prepared for flight and weather limits are verified. Once the
aircraft is at the field, the autopilot operator and flight test director verify the wind direction and
an autonomous takeoff and landing flight plan is created that accounts for proper runway usage.
The autopilot operator then discusses the mission with the imagery operators. Prior to takeoff,
the flight plan and runway direction are briefed with the entire mission team.
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While the aircraft is in flight, waypoints are manually changed to accommodate search area
changes and to ensure adequate search area coverage. Also, changes may occur to the flight plan
in order to produce a more accurate autonomous landing pattern. All changes to the aircrafts
flight plan are relayed to the safety pilot via the flight test director prior to the aircraft being
commanded to execute the new parameters. In the event of an emergent waypoint, the autopilot
operator can command the aircraft to orbit the new waypoint. Upon reaching the orbit, the
operator will then command the gimbal to lock to the center waypoint. The lock command
compensates for altitude changes and orbit radius. This avoids the possibility of photographing a
ring without ever seeing the center.
The no fly zones are displayed on the Piccolo Command Center screen in red and are manually
entered prior to flying the aircraft by the autopilot operator.
VI.
Operations
A. Safety
UAS are complex systems and safety is a major concern during any UAS operations. Good
engineering practices were used in the construction of ArcWulf to help reduce the probability of
catastrophic structural or electrical failures that could pose a risk to operators and potential
spectators. NCSU uses extensive Standard Operational Procedures (SOP’s) before, during and
after each flight to help mitigate the remaining risk.
NCSU maintains a separation of approximately 10 feet between the trailer and the flight line to
help ensure the safety of the ground crew while also being close enough to maintain good
communication between the trailer crew and the flight line crew. An established chain of
command reduces communication errors between the trailer and the flight line.
Figure 7 – Chain of Command Flow Diagram
Mission objectives are defined clearly prior to each flight test, and operators are briefed on their
duties before each flight. A FMEA and a Hazard Analysis were conducted based on possible
failures and past failures experienced by the club. This data is used to improve checklists and
procedures, thus improving safety of the system.
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B. Flight Line Crew
Flight Test Director: The flight test director is in charge of all flight test operations and the
overall safety of the operators and the aircraft. The director‘s roles include pre-mission briefings,
taxi and takeoff allowances, and autonomous handover procedures. In addition, the director
ensures all checklists are followed and information is passed smoothly between the trailer and
the flight line. Finally, the flight test director is in charge of performing mission debriefing’s and
updating SOP’s to improve mission performance.
Safety Pilot: The safety pilot has primary responsible for the safety of the flight crew and
spectators during all phases of flight. There is a defined hand-off procedure for transitioning
from manual to autonomous control that involves the Safety Pilot and the Autopilot Operator. In
the event of an autopilot failure or unexpected aircraft behavior the safety pilot is responsible for
taking manual control of the aircraft. The safety pilot has the final decision on if the aircraft is
unsafe to land near the flight crew in which case they will use their best judgment to land the
aircraft in the least risky manner.
Scribe: A scribe is placed on the flight line that assists with running checklists and verifying the
aircrafts speed and altitude. This position may be replaced by the flight test director during
minimum crew operations.
C. Trailer Crew
Autopilot Operator: The autopilot operator is responsible for autonomous flight planes, waypoint
navigation, and autonomous takeoff and landing. The operator verifies the aircraft position
during all phases of flight and alerts the flight test director to the status of the aircraft.
Imagery Operator: The imagery operations team is responsible for ensuring pictures are received
from the aircraft and analyzed.
Antenna Operator: The antenna operator is responsible for ensuring the ground station antenna is
properly tracking the aircraft at all times. If the antenna fails to autonomously track the aircraft,
manual control of the antenna can be used to maintain an adequate wireless link.
VII. Flight Testing and Evaluation
The NCSU Aerial Robotics Club has flown the system 53 separate times since the 2009
Competition. Over the course of these flights, the ArcWulf accumulated 9.5 hours of total flight
time. Of that time, 4.38 hours were flown autonomously. 10 autonomous takeoffs and 6
autonomous landings were successfully completed. The ArcWulf experienced two major crashes
that resulted in an end to flight testing until significant repairs could be made. On 11/8/2009, an
engine malfunction caused the plane to lose power over the tree line, resulting in a broken
fuselage and minor damage to the wing. 60 man hours of repairs were made within a week and
flight testing continued within a month. The second major crash occurred on 3/14/2010 when
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the landing gear caught on a fence during an autonomous landing attempt, resulting in
catastrophic damage to the fuselage. A second fuselage was in the process of being built as a
backup starting in mid-January, so this body was made the primary fuselage and completed so
that flight testing could resume as soon as possible. Flight testing resumed after roughly 250
man hours.
Over the 2009-2010 flight test season, 100% of the identified targets met or exceeded threshold
standards as per the request for proposal. The average distance error in GPS location was 79.96
feet. From a maximum altitude of roughly 500 ft AGL, the imagery team can discern useful
target information such as primary color, secondary color, alphanumeric, target shape, and
heading. However, the optimum height for target recognition is 350 ft AGL.
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Appendix 1- Aircraft Systems Communication Flow
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Appendix 2-Image Collection and Data Processing Pipeline
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Appendix 3-Flight
Flight Line Setup
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Appendix 4-Go/No-Go Criteria
The NCSU UAS shall not fly under the following conditions:
1. If there is any perceptible precipitation.
2. If there is any indication of thunder or lightning within 5 miles of the field.
3. If sustained winds exceed 15 kts, or the sustained crosswind component exceeds 8 kts.
4. If another vehicle, manned or unmanned, is operating within line of sight of the field.
5. If non flight-critical personnel cross the flight line.
6. If the aircraft fails to range test beyond 100 feet on the primary R/C link with all wireless
devices operational.
7. Any indication of poor or unreliable engine performance.
8. Any indication of inoperative flight control surfaces.
9. Any indication of poor nose wheel steering.
10. If a GPS lock cannot be obtained.
The NCSU UAS may fly under the following conditions
1. An inoperative 5GHz imagery data link
2.
An inoperative 900 MHz autopilot data link with an operative 5 GHz data link
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Appendix 5-Failure Mode Effect Analysis
Failure
Symptom
RC Receiver
System
Malfunction
Erratic
aircraft
behavior
Autopilot
Malfunction
Erratic
aircraft
behavior
Loss of
Autopilot
Uplink
Indicated on
Command
Center
Loss of GPS
Signal
Indicated on
Command
Center
Loss of
Camera
Downlink
Real-time
image
transmission
stops
One servo
dies
Engine dies
Erratic
aircraft
behavior
Indicated on
Command
Center
Action
Status
1. Safety pilot defaults to
Mission Failure, Recoverable
autonomous control
2. If problem continues, safety
pilot turns off autopilot
transmitter when system is a
Catastrophic
safe distance away from
ground personnel. This initiates
flight termination.
1. Safety pilot switches to
manual control
1. If less than 30 seconds,
aircraft continues previous
flight path
2. If greater than 30 seconds,
aircraft goes to lost comms
waypoint
3. If, after 1 minute, link is not
established, Safety pilot takes
manual control
1. Aircraft continues on inertial
navigation for 30 seconds
2. If no signal after 30 seconds,
safety pilot takes control
1. NCSU relies on onboard
data storage
Mission Failure, Recoverable
Mission Continues
Mission Failure, Recoverable
Mission Failure, Recoverable
Mission Continues
Mission Failure, Recoverable
Mission Continues
1. Autopilot attempts to fly
Mission Continues
aircraft without servo
2. If flight control is
unacceptable, manual control is
Mission Failure, Recoverable
engaged, and the safety pilot
attempts landing in a safe area.
3. Turn off transmitter,
initiating hard-over
1. Safety pilot defaults to
manual control, initiates
emergency landing procedure
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Catastrophic
Mission Failure, Recoverable
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Failure Mode Effects
Analysis (Continued)
Vehicle
breaks inflight
4.8v Servo
Battery Low
12v System
Battery Low
3.3v Camera
Battery Low
Falling
debris, erratic
behavior
1. Safety pilot defaults to
Mission Failure, Recoverable
manual control
2. If flight control is
unacceptable, manual control is
Mission Failure, Recoverable
engaged, and the safety pilot
attempts landing in a safe area.
3. Turn off transmitter,
initiating hard-over procedure
Indicated on 1. Safety pilot defaults to
Command
manual control and when
Center
practical
Indicated on 1. Safety pilot defaults to
Command
manual control and lands when
Center
able
Loss of image 1. Auto land initiated as no
capture
more images can be captured
North Carolina State University Aerial Robotics Club
Catastrophic
Mission Failure, Recoverable
Mission Failure, Recoverable
Mission Failure, Recoverable
20