Cloud Surveillance System for UAV 3D Dynamic Operation in Remote Visualization

Abstract

The unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operation demands a good surveillance system to promptly access flight information to all participating team members in missions. A system can be implemented on cloud via 3G mobile communication to uplink UAV flight data onto Internet and share with different users. In this paper, an Android smart phone is selected for data acquisition on airborne. Google Earth® 3D map is adopted to construct real time tracking display with actual attitude reference model in remote terminals. The ground computer builds MySQL database to collect downlink data and converts into user friendly format for easy access by opening browsers. With special attitude and altitude model design to match with Google Earth, the dynamic UAV performance presents very good virtual visualization to operator and observers online throughout the missions. Its record can playback to view any historical operations. This paper presents a technical realization on the UAV cloud surveillance system on UAS operations of Ce-71. The 2D attitude model demonstrates clear flight trajectory and performance, while the altitude model on 3D Google Earth offers good terrain awareness for avoidance. The system time delay and mobile coverage may limit the use of the proposed cloud surveillance for UAV. It is very helpful to mission control in better remote visualization for UAV operation.