Rotorcraft aerial robot-challenges and solutions

The Georgia Tech Aerial Robotics Team has been working on autonomous control of an unmanned aerial vehicle for three years as both a research project and a competition entry. The three annual International Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Competitions (1991-93) have attracted university teams from across the country as well as from Europe, Canada, and Asia. At the third annual competition in June 1993, the Georgia Tech system was awarded first place for demonstrating completely autonomous flight including a safe landing. This success is a result of overcoming numerous challenges faced white creating a guided automatic flight control system for a small unmanned vehicle. The 1993 entry was refined through early and consistent test flights and the application of lessons learned from previous years. The Georgia Tech Aerial Robotics System (GTARS) features an on-board flight control computer, a six axis sensor suite, an off-board mission planning station, a vision tracking system, and a modified model helicopter of conventional configuration. Other features of the system include remote pilot control with safety override switch, two way telemetry data link, and a tethered autonomous sub-vehicle