Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Subsystem
UAV Hardware
The UAV hardware subsystem focuses on designing and manufacturing the airframe used in the AUVSI competition. Currently a new airframe is being designed to meet this year’s competition requirements. After researching different airframes, a quadcopter design was chosen. In the spring semester, the quadcopter will be fabricated and tested.
UAV Software
UAV software is responsible for the autonomous flight capabilities of the UAS. UAV Software works with all other subsystems to complete the required tasks autonomously. This includes waypoint navigation for UAV Hardware, control of the air drop mechanism for Air Delivery, and navigation of the ODCL search area for Image Processing.
Air Delivery (AD) Subsystem
The Air Delivery subsystem focuses on the designing, manufacturing, and testing of a mechanism that autonomously delivers payloads safely to a specified target as the UAV is in flight. The mechanism must also be able to drop the payload within a set distance of the target in order for the drop to be successful. Their contribution to UHDT is critical for overall success in the AUVSI 2023 competition since their portion of the competition accounts for 35% of the total score, which is the greatest percentage in any individual event.
Image Processing (IP) Subsystem
The Image Processing subsystem is responsible for object detection, classification, and location (ODCL) within a search area. These targets consist of a colored alphanumeric on a colored shape. Targets are classified using their alphanumerics, shapes, and colors of the alphanumerics and shapes. This year’s competition introduced the emergent object type: a manikin dressed in clothes. Five targets will be present, one of which could be an emergent target. Targets are tagged with a GPS coordinate. Using these results produced by Image Processing’s algorithm, labeled payloads are delivered within the range of their corresponding targets.
