Autopilots for small unmanned aerial vehicles: A survey

• Published in: International journal of control, automation, and systems Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 36 - 44
• Main Authors: Chao, HaiYang, Cao, YongCan, Chen, YangQuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems and The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers 01.02.2010; Springer Nature B.V; 제어·로봇·시스템학회
• Subjects: Aerial surveys; Aircraft; Altitude; Automatic pilots; Autopilots; Control; Control systems; Employment; Engineering; Freeware; Mechatronics; Packages; Pilots; Power; Receivers & amplifiers; Regular Papers; Remote control; Remote sensing; Robotics; Source code; Summaries; Surveillance; Transmitters; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Vehicles; Wireless networks; 제어계측공학; remotely piloted vehicle (RPV); unmanned aircraft system (UAS); unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); Autopilot systems; autonomous navigation; flight control
• ISSN: 1598-6446; 2005-4092
• DOI: 10.1007/s12555-010-0105-z

This paper presents a survey of the autopilot systems for small or micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The objective is to provide a summary of the current commercial, open source and research autopilot systems for convenience of potential small UAV users. The UAV flight control basics are introduced first. The radio control system and autopilot control system are then explained from both the hardware and software viewpoints. Several typical off-the-shelf autopilot packages are compared in terms of sensor packages, observation approaches and controller strengths. Afterwards some open source autopilot systems are introduced. Conclusion is made with a summary of the current autopilot market and a remark on the future development.