On board flight computers for flight testing small uninhabited aerial vehicles

This paper will discuss two systems that were developed to support UAV flight test efforts. The Flight Computer System (FCS) was based on the DS2250 embedded controller, an 8051 derivative. The FCS is small and lightweight, but it has limited I/O and computational capabilities, which were expanded by using a FCS network. The analog to digital converters on the FCS were a novel design, which would also generate a hybrid integration of the signal. The Linux In Flight Testing (LIFT) system is based on the use of COTS PC104-Plus cards using a Real-Time Linux operating system. The RT Linux provides the hard real-time capability required for quality data collection and control system implementation. The LIFT system provides for expansion to satisfy complex mission requirements.