System for Robust Navigation of Micro Air Vehicles

It is clear that autonomous navigation, guidance, and control of micro air vehicles (MAV) in cluttered environments while detecting and avoiding objects is highly challenging. MAVs and small unmanned aerial vehicles place severe size, weight, and power constraints on avionics and sensor payloads. Although current systems have collocated navigation, guidance and control electronics, they are not fully integrated for optimal navigation and control. Toyon proposes to develop a Software-Defined Navigation(TM) (SDN(TM)) system with Integrated Guidance and Control (IGC) specifically for small platforms. The integrated design will eliminate redundancy while improving robustness and performance. The plug-and-play SDN/IGC system will accept inputs from a variety of sensors including gyros, accelerometers, magnetometers, and several novel sensors currently under development at Toyon. These include a very small GPS-based attitude sensor, an ultrasonic ranging device, and an optical-flow sensor with reduced computational requirements. The system will provide robust guidance and control under disturbances such as wind gusts while enhancing the operational envelope under GPS-denied or jammed conditions. While ambitious, the proposed SDN/IGC system is realizable and will significantly improve the performance of small, autonomous platforms. Toyon will design the system during Phase I and build, test and demonstrate a prototype during the Phase II effort.