Abstract
To apply UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) into different fields, including research and industry, and expand it quickly, reliable but modular software is required. The existing flight control software (FCS) of the UAV consists of various types of modules categorized into different layers, and it is responsible for coordinating, monitoring, and controlling the vehicle during its flight. This paper proposes mpFCS, a structure of UAV flight control software, which provides portability to its modules and is easy to expand. The mpFCS consists of four segments and several modules within the segments. mpFCS provides portability for each module within the segment. Existing software does not provide portability for its modules because of the tight coupling resulting from its different and private interfaces. The mpFCS uses interfaces of the standard airborne software architecture to transfer data between its modules. Moreover, the structure provides portability for its modules to run in the standard airborne software environment. In order to verify the mpFCS, we tested the mpFCS with the conformance test suite of the airborne software that provides the testing environment for the interfaces and modules of the software. The mpFCS passed the test. Test results show that all modules of the mpFCS are portable. Additionally, portable modules can be interoperable with other software, and the structure is expandable with new modules that use standard airborne software interfaces.
Highlights
UAVs are currently becoming popular due to their high maneuverability, good performance, low cost, and reliability [1,2]
UAV flight control software handles the movement of UAVs and is responsible for controlling and monitoring it
This paper proposes mpFCS, a new structure of UAV flight control software, which can provide portability to its modules in the environment of standard airborne software
Summary
UAVs are currently becoming popular due to their high maneuverability, good performance, low cost, and reliability [1,2]. Recent technological advances create more new possibilities for UAVs [4,5], and UAVs are employed commonly in tasks such as surveillance [6], search and rescue missions [7] in the disaster area, wildfire, tracking, borderline security [8], remote sensing of the environment [9], etc. This is one of the biggest reasons UAVs are being adopted worldwide, especially by these sectors: personal, commercial, military, academia, and future technology. When functionalities and requirements of the software increase, the software can fulfill new functionalities and requirements by developing (or porting) a new module (from other software)
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