Miniature embedded rotorcraft platform for aerial teleoperation experiments

This paper describes the hardware and software systems that make up an experimental architecture developed to facilitate teleoperation research for miniature rotorcraft. One objective in developing this platform is to place the minimum required sensors and electronics onboard a miniature helicopter with limited payload. The onboard hardware resources must be sufficient to simplify the teleoperation task for the operator. While being developed, the onboard system is coupled with the infrastructure at the Interactive Guidance and Control Lab at the University of Minnesota to allow for a systematic approach to the investigation of onboard control and guidance augmentations. The overall architecture integrates components that allow a variety of estimation, control and guidance algorithms to be conveniently implemented and tested. In the lab environment, a Vicon tracking system is used to accurately determine a helicopter's pose and orientation and evaluate algorithms on stationary computers. This accurate information is used to develop the necessary metrics and evaluate the performance of different algorithms before transition to real-world situations.