Independent Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operation of Unmanned Systems with Distributed Onboard Services

This paper presents the development of ICAROUS-2 (Independent Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operation of Unmanned Systems with Distributed Onboard Services), the second generation of a software architecture that integrates several algorithms as distributed onboard services to enable robust autonomous UAS applications. In particular, the ICAROUS architecture defines a framework to perform detect and avoid, geofencing, path monitoring, path planning, and autonomous decision making to ensure safety and mission progress. Most of the core algorithms implemented in ICAROUS are formally verified using an interactive theorem prover. These algorithms are composed together using a plan execution engine, whose operational semantics is formally specified. A description of the integrated architecture, services currently available, and flight test results highlighting the capability of ICAROUS are presented

Modular Avionics for Seamless Reconfigurable UAS Missions

Abstract Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architecture is a trend in current avionics that employs a partitioned environment in which different avionics functions share a unique computing environment. UAS avionics, especially in small UAS, are usually of less complexity than not the present on airliners, however, in real autonomous UAS, the onboard avionics should control not only the flight and navigation but also the mission and payload of the aircraft. This involves more complex software as it should implement “intelligent” or at least autonomous behavior. This need of both flexibility and complexity management while keeping low costs in the UAS avionics field requires new architectures to cope with. In this article, we describe a modular avionics architecture based on services. The avionics functionality is divided in distributed elements, the services, which are interconnected by a communication middleware. This article also proposes a configuration and deployment infrastructure and its related procedures that complete our vision of UAS avionics.Peer Reviewe

Sense and Avoid Characterization of the Independent Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems

AbstractIndependent Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems (ICAROUS) is a distributed software architecture developed by NASA Langley Research Center to enable safe autonomous UAS operations. ICAROUS consists of a collection formally verified core algorithms for path planning, traffic avoidance, geofence handling, and decision making that interface with an autopilot system through a publisher-subscriber middleware. The ICAROUS Sense and Avoid Characterization (ISAAC) test was designed to evaluate the performance of the onboard Sense and Avoid (SAA) capability to detect potential conflicts with other aircraft and autonomously maneuver to avoid collisions, while remaining within the airspace boundaries of the mission. The ISAAC tests evaluated the impact of separation distances and alerting times on SAA performance. A preliminary analysis of the effects of each parameter on key measures of performance is conducted, informing the choice of appropriate parameter values for different small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) applications. Furthermore, low-power Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) is evaluated for potential use to enable autonomous sUAS to sUAS deconflictions as well as to provide usable warnings for manned aircraft without saturating the frequency spectrum

A modular software architecture for UAVs

There have been several attempts to create scalable and hardware independent software architectures for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). In this work, we propose an onboard architecture for UAVs where hardware abstraction, data storage and communication between modules are efficiently maintained. All processing and software development is done on the UAV while state and mission status of the UAV is monitored from a ground station. The architecture also allows rapid development of mission-specific third party applications on the vehicle with the help of the core module

Service abstraction layer for UAV flexible application development

An Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) is an uninhabited airplane, piloted by embed- ded avionics and supervised by an operator on ground. Unmanned Aerial Systems were designed to operate in dangerous situations, like military missions. With the avionics tech- nological evolution, Unmanned Aerial Systems also become a valid option for commercial applications, specially for dull and tedious surveillance applications. Cost considerations will also deviate some mission done today with conventional aircrafts to Unmanned Aerial Systems. In order to build economically viable UAS solutions, the same platform should be able to implement a variety of missions with little reconfiguration time and overhead. This paper describes a software abstraction layer for a Unmanned Aerial System distributed architecture. The proposed abstraction layer allows the easy and fast design of missions and solves in a cost-effective way the reusability of the system. The distributed architecture of the Unmanned Aerial System is service oriented. Func- tional units are implemented as independent services that interact each other using commu- nication primitives in a network centric approach. The paper presents a set of predefined services useful for reconfigurable civil missions and the directives for their communication.Postprint (published version

An architecture for the development of complex UAS missions

The generalized development of UAS complex applications are still limited by the absence of systems that support the implementation of the actual mission. UAS design faces the development of specific systems to control their desired flight-profile, sensor activation/configuration along the flight, data storage and eventually its transmission to the ground control. All this elements may delay and increase the risk and cost of the project. This paper introduces a flexible and reusable hardware/software architecture designed to facilitate the development of UAS-based complex applications. This flexibility is organized into a user-parameterizable UAS service abstraction layer (USAL). The USAL defines a collection of standard services are their interrelations as a basic starting point for further development by users. Functionalities like enhanced flight-plans, a mission control engine, data storage, communications management, etc. are offered. Additional services can be included according to requirements but all existing services and inter-service communication infrastructure can be exploited and tailored to specific needs. This approach reduces development times and risks, but at the same time gives the user higher levels of flexibility and permits the development of more ambitious applications.Postprint (published version

Image Stitching for UAV remote sensing application

The objective of the project is to write an algorithm that is able to join top view images to create a big map. The project is done in the School of Castelldefels of UPC, within the research laboratory Icarus of EETAC Faculty. The goal of the project is to detect an area of this map, thanks to the analysis of this images. The images are taken by the two camera aboard on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) built by the Icarus group leaded by Enric Pastor. The implemented code is uploaded in Upc' svn at the adress: https://svn.fib.upc.es/svn/vincenzo.can

Flexible Electrical Manager Service for UAS Applications Development

Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) are becoming viable aerial platforms for civil oriented monitoring applications. However, in most cases the selected UAS platforms are ad-hoc vehicles which include highly heterogeneous avionics. Avionics on-board may be COSTS modules that have highly different non-standard power requirements. Additionally, the available power sources in these UAS may be fairly limited or even restricted to battery units. This paper introduces the ELectrical Manager Service (ELMS), an on-board system in charge of offering a flexible power supply architecture that supports minimal reconfiguration overhead for a wide variety of UAS missions. The ELMS Service is designed to offer a continuous monitoring of the state of the power network, and a coherent and controlled response in front of power supply contingencies. The ELMS will monitor the batteries and generator status, the power consumption of the avionics and other systems, manage the connection/disconnections of systems, and provide power availability estimations. The ELMS Service is part of an architecture designed to facilitate the execution of UAS civil missions, the USAL. The USAL is built as a set of cooperating services in a purely distributed and scalable architecture with a middleware that manages inter-service communications.Postprint (published version