ARDI overview

UAV FCC Team

 Contents
• What is ARDI?
• Performance
• Subsystems
• Operation Modes
• Project purpose
 What is ARDI
• A fixed wing flying wing UAV system
• Main Features
– Range 80km
– Altitude 4500m
– EO/IR payload
– Endurance > 5hr
• Takeoff
– Launched by a catapult
• Landing
– Parachute released
– Airbag deployed
 Subsystems
• Airframe
• FCS
• GCS
• Data-link
• Video-link
• Safety pilot
• FTS
• Payload
• Light system
• Launcher
• Recovery system
ARDI high level architecture
SYSTEM

AIRCRAFT

SAFETY PILOT SYSTEM

FLIGHT TERMINATION SYSTEM

UAV CONTROL SYSTEM

UAV LAUNCH SYSTEM

PAYLOAD
ARDI functional block diagram
 Airframe (Air vehicle structure)
• Air Vehicle Structure can support the flight
loads, includes all the main sub-systems
– power plant,
– avionics,
– electric plant and
– payload and
– protects the on board items by means of fairings
ARDI structure
 ARDI airframe
• It is mainly composed of:
– Central structure
– Avionics bay
– Left wing
– Right wing
Winglets with rudders have been provided for
aerodynamic improvement.
Avionic bay assembly
 Rear Fuselage assembly
• Compact body able to carry on all the main
equipments:
– Engine
– Parachute
– Airbag
– Generation power unit
– Fuel system
Rear Fuselage assembly
 The wing assembly
• Glued assembly with the double function of:
– Generate the lift necessary to sustain the aircraft
– Transfer the all aerodynamic loads to the fuselage
 FCS
• The aim of the FCS is to provide
– the RPAS ARDI with an HW/SW system that
• acquires and manages sensor data
– in order to control the aircraft flight acting on the controller surface actuators and
– on the engine throttle
– based on the commands of the remote pilot through the GCS or
– the safety pilot through the Safety Pilot transmitter.
• The FCS ensures that the RPAS ARDI is safely controllable and
• manoeuvrable in all the operative conditions.
• The FCS allows the RPAS ARDI to work in automatic,
• semi-automatic and
• manual mode,
– with the operator controlling the platform in terms of position and/or velocity.
– the FCS controls and manages the payload according to the GCS
commands.
– The FCS sends the telemetry of main flight data to the Ground Control
Station and stores the main data in a NVM.
 FCS
• In order to control the RPAS and to perform the
navigation,
– the FCS interacts with the other sub-system
– The FCS board receives the input from the:
• FTS  watchdog;
• Safety Pilot Receiver  commands from the safety pilot;
• Data-Link  commands from the UCS;
• EPGDS  EPGDS voltage and power source data;
• Engine  ECU data;
• Payload  payload feedback position data;
• Fuel System  Fuel low level data.
 FCS
– The FCS outputs the following commands:
• a watchdog command to FTS;
• a termination command to the safety actuation board
(aka Kill board);
• the command for airbag control;
• the telemetry to the Data-link;
• the control command to the payload;
• the flight control command to actuators and engine
throttle;
• the navigation lights command
 FCS interfaces
AIRBAG Airbag Door cmd AIRBAG
R/C BOARD Airbag fan cmd DOORS/FAN
Safety Pilot cmds PPM ENC
RECEIVER
KILL
ECU ECU data FT cmd
BOARD

FCS BOARD STORAGE

FUEL
Fuel Low Level UNIT (NVM) PWM Act cmds ACTUATORS
SENS
ACC
SENS
GPS GPS data PL cmds
PAYLOAD
PL feedback
GYRO COMPUTATIONAL
SENS UNIT
EXT MAG Mag data
UCS cmds
BARO Telemetry
ADT
SENS
GPU GPU/Batt status
FTS WD I/O FTS
AIRSPD
SENS Diff Press data
NAV LIGHTS
PWR Nav Lights cmd
BOARD
MODULE EPGDS Data
MOTHER BOARD

FW flashing MAINTENANCE
Cmd shell
PC
 FCS hardware
• The FCS integrates on the same board the following hardware
components:
– 3-axis gyroscope;
– 3-axis accelerometer;
– barometric pressure sensor;
– data storage unit;
– Computational Units (MCU).
• The magnetometer data and the GPS data are provided by external sensor,
made up of
– a GPS receiver and
– 3-axis magnetometer
• The MCU integrates the FCSW that
– acquires and filters the data from the internal and external sensors to
– compute the actuators and throttle commands in order to follow
– the UCS or Safety Pilot request.
FCS hardware
 GCS/UCS
• UAV Control System (UCS) or Remote Pilot
Station (RPS): it provides the following main
functions:
– Mission planning
– Command and Control of the platform and the
payload via the radio link
– Mission data recording
– Mission data elaboration
GCS/UCS
 Data-link
• The data-link is used for:
– Telemetry download from air to ground
– Command upload from ground to air
– Payload control command upload from ground to
air
– Setting upload from ground to air
– Statues download from air to ground
– Acknowledgement upload/download
 Video-link
• Half duplex communication link
• Video steam from air to ground.
 Safety pilot
• Safety pilot is a remote control transmitter
and receiver.
• The Remote Control Transmitter is used to
drive the UAV in manual mode.
 FTS
• The Flight Termination System (FTS) allows the
Safety Pilot to terminate the flight by
– activating the parachute opening and
– Shutting down the engine
• The Flight Termination System is a simple
hardware/software HCI which allows the FTS
Operator to
– monitor the FTS status and to
– engage the critical termination command
 FTS
• FTS is composed of
– FTS ground segment (FTS-GS)
– FTS air segment (FTS-AS)
 FTS-GS
• The main functions of the FTS-GS system are the
following:
– Receiving status information from the air segment (i.e. AS-
FTS system)
– Monitoring the reception of interfering messages from
other ARDI FTS systems
– Managing the periodical sending/reception of keep alive
messages to/from the air segment
– When the FTS operator wants to execute the termination
command, sending the termination command according to
the security rules defined
– Showing via graphical GUI and related alarms, the status of
the overall FTS system
 FTS-AS
• The main function of this CSCI are the following
– It sends status information to the ground segment (i.e.
GS-FTS);
– It monitors the reception of interfering messages from
other FTS systems, providing this information to the
GS-FTS
– It receives configuration data from the ground
segment
– When a valid termination command is received from
the ground segment,
• the software activates the logic of termination and
• landing procedure actuation
 FTS-AS
• The FTS-AS is powered by the FTS battery and
the main power source of the UAV
• During normal flight phases the FTS-AS gets
energy from the main power source.
• In the event of a failure of the main power
supply of the UAV it is however possible to
terminate the flight by means the backup
battery.
Safety actuation board (kill board)
• The Safety Actuation Board (Kill board)
aggregates all hardware components handling
– the termination procedure command received by
the FTS-AS system, actuated by
• Shutting off the engine;
• Launching the recovery parachute (opening the
parachute bay’s door after a predetermined time).
FTS-AS
FTS-GS
 ARDI PAYLOAD SENSOR INDEX
• On-Board Sensor
• Controp M-STAMP general features
• Controp M-STAMP sensors details
• M-STAMP Operating Modes
– Standard
– Inertial
 On-board Sensor (1/2)

• Controp M-STAMP general features:

o EO/IR Stabilized miniature payload for
surveillance and reconnaissance
o Gyro stabilized image with three Gimbal
System
o Continuous Optical Zoom on both EO
and IR sensors
o Accurate geo-location features
 On-board Sensor (2/2)

• Controp M-STAMP sensors details:

o Thermal Imaging camera: Uncooled micro-bolometer with
a 640x480 elements detector and Continuous Zoom lens
(FOV [H] from 40° to 11.7°), continuous optical zoom
o Color Day TV camera (FOV [H] from 46° to 2.9°),
continuous optical zoom
o Belly Mount Configuration, with 360° Slip-ring in Yaw axis
o Video standard: PAL
o Communication: RS-232
o Weight: 1.300 kg (approx.)
 M-STAMP Operating Modes (1/2)

• Standard:
o Observation: Inertial angular rate control of the line of sight
using Pitch and Roll rate commands
o Position: Line of sight is moved to roll and pitch angles
o Rate Position: Rate control of LOS. Automatically switches to
position for zero Pitch and Roll rate commands
o Pilot Window: Line of sight is moved to 25 degree depression
relative to vehicle
o Stow: Line of sight is moved to safe position for landing
o Center: Line of sight moved to central position
o Drift Calib: Performs drift calibration of gimbal control loops
using gimbal angle readings
 M-STAMP Operating Modes (2/2)

• Inertial:
o Nav Init: Initialization of inertial navigation system using angles
from vehicle
o GPS Nav Init: Self initialization of inertial navigation system.
Uses GPS velocity data to estimate vehicle orientation
o Point Coordinate: Inertial pointing to given target coordinates
o Hold Coordinate: Inertial pointing to current LOS ground
coordinates
o GRR (Ground Relative Rate): Similar to Observation mode, but
angular rates are relative to current principal point position
 Light system
• The 4 Channel Light Control Unit:
– powered by the +6 VDC from the DC/DC converter
installed inside the Avionics Basket.
– feed and command the Navigation and Strobe
Lights.
– Receives a pulsing signal (PWM) from the
autopilot to switch on/off the lights and
– ensure their different combinations in accordance
to the following Table.
Light system
Launcher
 Launcher
• UAV launch system is composed of:
– Catapult and
– Engine starter
Launcher
 Recovery system
• The recovery system includes:
– Parachute
– Parachute bay opening actuation
– Airbag (landing impact attenuator)
– Airbag inflation system
– Airbag bay opening actuation
 Recovery system

Recovery
system

Parachute Airbag

Parachute Airbag
Airbag Fan
door servo door servo
Recovery sequence
 Operation modes
• The FCS controls the RPAS by the following
modes:
– Safety pilot mode
– Arcade mode
• RC arcade
• GCS arcade
– Autopilot
– Navigation
 Safety pilot
• The Safety Pilot mode is a manual flight mode
– the PIC controls directly the RPA
• with the Safety Pilot transmitter
– without any stabilization from the FCS.
– The RC command function provide:
• Pitch Command;
• Roll Command;
• Yaw Command;
• Throttle Command;
• RC Switch;
• Arcade Switch;
• RC lost flag.
 Arcade mode
• The Arcade mode is the semi-automatic mode
– that allows the PIC to control the aircraft attitude angles
• pitch and roll
– the throttle control is manual
• without any FCS augmentation.
– The control is possible by
• the Safety Pilot transmitter or
– Arcade SP
• by UCS
– Arcade UCS.
– Arcade mode could be used during
• flight test to adjust the FCS inner loops
– Pitch and Roll hold.
 Autopilot mode
• The Autopilot mode is the semi-automatic
mode
– wherein the FCS flies the RPA and holds
• altitude,
• airspeed and
• heading constant;
– the remote pilot can change
• Target Heading,
• Target Altitude and
• Target Speed from the GCS.
 Navigation mode
• The Navigation Mode is the fully automatic
mode
– controls the aircraft mission from
• the take-off to the landing.
 Project purpose
• Technology transfer of the FCS system
• Customization of our GCS system
• Own two UAS system with spare parts and
operational and maintenance training