Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted public attention in the recent years. Due to the miniaturization of electronics systems, micro UAVs such as miniaturized planes and helicopters have been developed in the civilian sector and equipped with increasing autonomous capabilities. OFFIS has several years of experience in UAV design with the focus on embedded micro systems for control and navigation.

UAV Research and Development at OFFIS

Research on autonomous systems and the UAV development at OFFIS are embedded in a competence network among the aviation industry in the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area. This network has been established within the go!CART (go! Competitive Aerial Robot Technologies) project, which aims at developing tools and methods for the design and rapid prototyping of unmanned aerial systems. As miniature unmanned aerial vehicles underlie various design restrictions - mostly imposed by the weight of components - a tailored design according to the application’s requirements is often inevitable. Requirements regarding flight duration and range, agility, flight dynamics, and payload, will result in a specific configuration and mechanical structure of the UAV.

Modular Design

The design of UAVs at OFFIS follows a modular concept, where the control and navigation module with its patented position controller is the core part of the overall architecture. This allows to design various configurations of UAVs according to the users’ needs and the specific requirements of the application, while using the same control module. OFFIS uses the core avionics module in various four-rotor helicopter platforms using standard model kits or custom designs with a rotor diameter ranging between 15 and 45 cm. The avionics module is also capable to control fixed-wing aircrafts.

Features and highlights

OFFIS UAVs have the following features:

• In-flight stability up to a wind speed of 6 Bft. through patented position controller
• Autonomous navigation along GPS waypoints
• Automatic high-precision landing within a 50cm x 50cm area by radio ranging

This allows a fully autonomous operation of a UAV and provides the highest flexibility to the user in operating the system. In a user-guided mode, the UAV can be easily controlled even under strong wind conditions. A ground control station allows to control and monitor multiple UAVs.

Application Areas

There are various applications of UAVs in monitoring and remote sensing. In this application domain OFFIS has conducted aerial photography documentation of construction sites and archaeological sites as well as data recording for photogrammetry applications. Various other applications are possible using the same platform, e.g. power line inspection, airborne emission measurement, or surveillance tasks for harbour and costal security.