1. TIM Communication Library / Firmware
The UK Aerial Robotics Team Autonomous Aircraft Design
James E. Lumpp, Jr., William T. Smith, Daniel L. Lau University of Kentucky Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Aerial Robotics Team at the University of Kentucky is designing an autonomous aircraft with sophisticated image capture and analysis hardware and software to compete at the 4th AUVSI Student Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Competition in June The UAV is based on an off-the-shelf airframe with custom electronics for flight control and mission payload control. The airframe chosen is a conventional high-wing R/C model aircraft with autonomous control, high-bandwidth communications and state-of-the-art image processing that can generate composite photographs of large geographic areas. The system was designed as part of senior design courses and engineering technical electives by students in Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Mechanical Engineering Department and Department of Computer Science at the University of Kentucky.
The Mission
Teams are required to takeoff (manual or autonomous), fly specified waypoints, locate and identify targets on the ground, and return for landing within the allotted time.
Mission criteria includes dynamic air vehicle control during autonomous flight, GPS waypoint navigation, target reconnaissance, ability to adjust to changing mission requirements.
Piccolo Autopilot
Avionics - Small size: 4.8” x 2.4” x 1.5”, 233g.
Highly integrated –Includes sensors, GPS, enclosure, and communications link.
Real-Time Data Logging.
Manual piloting over the integrated UHF ground station link.
End-user programmability, including RS-232 serial communications.
Flexible drag and drop flight plan generation and updates.
Tiny Interface Module (TIM)
Measures 1.4 inch x 1.6 inch on a custom PCB
CAN, SPI, and two RS-232 communications channels
Timer counter arrays
Up to seven GPIO pins
Header configuration allowing direct to interfacing with servos typically used in aircraft control
LED (x3) Power, Status 0, Status 1
Push Button (x2) Reset, Generic
Camera System
Aiptek IS-DV
Fixed lens camera
NTSC video out
3MPixels
Built-in SD Card Slot (Max. 1 GB)
TXA5-Rcb 1W-70 cm MH
Dual-Axis Servo Stabilizing System
Sig Kadet Senior ARF
Wings: in.
Length: in.
Weight: 6.5 lbs unloaded
Engine: 1.6 bhp Tower Hobbies .61
NASA World Wind
Open source software
GUI to display end images with all required image data
Embedded custom code to rotate and place images taken during flight
TIM Communication Library / Firmware
User API - API used between user code and the IDEAnix message router.
Driver API - API is the method of communication between the IDEAnix message router and the CAN driver.
Student Team Members
David Jackson Ben Redmon Jeannette Djigbenou Vijai Raghunathan
Tim Arrowsmith Robert Koontz Justin Raney Subash Marri Sridhar
Darren Brown Sam Hishmeh Matt Smith Nithyananda Siva Jeganathan
Garrett Chandler Nick Mattei Craig Collins Vamsikrishna Gudivada
Adam Groves Shadab Ambat William Berry Deepthi Boyanapally
Van Yadack Dale McClure Ala Aldin Meriden Raghuveer Koppala
Gayatri Sagi Joe Eaton Breenen Ryan Osamah Rawashdeh