A multi-UAS system for the inspection of photovoltaic plants based on the ROS-MAGNA framework

Abstract

This paper presents the first application of the multi-purpose ROS-MAGNA [1] framework to a real inspection mission performed with a team of multiple UAS. This framework makes transparent the type of autopilot on-board and creates the state machines that control the behaviour of the different UAS from the specification of the multi-UAS mission. In addition, it integrates a virtual world generation tool to manage the environment’s information and visualize the geometrical objects of interest to properly follow the progress of the mission. Due to its flexibility, it can be applied to the inspection of different photovoltaic plants with teams of UAS. The paper describes the system architecture and the human machine interface developed for the mission management by the personnel of the photovoltaic plant. Finally, we show both simulations results and real flight experiments on a photovoltaic plant located in Utrera (Spain).