21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-3.7.2

INTEGRATED FLIGHT AND PAYLOAD CONTROL FOR DIRECTIONAL PAYLOADS ON UAVS

Schnellbeck A, Bandara S. N.*, Bil C.*, Wong K. C.**
British Aerospace, Australia; *RMIT, Australia; **University of Sydney, Australia

Keywords: flight, payload, control, payloads, uavs

Research into autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has been underway for many years. The availability of reliable and low-cost global satellite navigation and communications has brought the arrival of these vehicles one step closer. It is anticipated that by removing the pilot from the aircraft a significant reduction in operating costs can be achieved. Autonomous UAVs are expected to replace manned aircraft used for long endurance or hazardous missions. Maritime search and coastal surveillance are examples of long endurance missions which are particularly relevant to Australia. In these applications the DAV would be searching for an object such as a ship in a large area of ocean. The UAV payload for these search missions could consist of a radar and a camera. The radar enables searches of large areas of ocean to be made. The results of radar searches would be monitored by the mission management software which provides high level planning and decision-making for the UAV. The mission management software would initiate further investigation of radar contacts in the search for the mission objective. This investigation would involve the use of the UAV's camera.

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