Development of a Small UAV with Autopilot Capability

It is challenging to develop and test autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) because of the multidisciplinary nature of the work and the paramount safety requirement. A UAV system with autopilot capability was developed by a group of students at New Mexico State University. The UAV system was built based on an originally radio controlled (RC) Raptor 90 helicopter and a commercial-off-the-shelf autopilot package MP2128 HELI . The development work was focused on the components selection, interfaces design, system integration and testing. Several problems regarding vibration isolation, electromagnetic interference shielding and safe testing of the system have been solved. This paper describes the development work including the system architecture, mechanical and electrical components design, system integration, and some preliminary results of the system test.

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