Design and Implementation of a Ground Control Station for Multiple Fixed-Wing UAVs

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used in many fields by virtue of their flexible design, low cost and zero casualties. With the deepening application of UAVs, the tasks they undertake are gradually becoming more complex and can no longer be accomplished by a single UAV alone, so multiple UAVs are needed to collaborate in order to perform the tasks. In this paper, a UAV ground control station software system is designed for the characteristics of multiple UAVs to perform tasks. The system is designed with the key requirement of reducing the operator’s workload in mind, while taking into account the differences in control and surveillance between multiple UAVs and a single UAV. After defining the functional requirements of the ground control station, the development and implementation of the ground station software is carried out, and finally, an application example of the ground station software is presented. The experiments show that the proposed ground station has some engineering value.KeywordsMulti-UAVsGround control stationHardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulationField experimentsFormation flight