ARC 2008 System
Primary Aircraft:
Wildcat 8 - Hangar 9 Alpha 60
Weight: 8 pounds dry, 12 pounds loaded
Engine: Saito 100 Golden Knight motor (.91 size)
Propeller: 13x8 at a maximum of 9500 rpm
Air speed: 40-67 mph
Flight duration: 15 min with a 16 oz. fuel tank
Autonomous navigation via Piccolo Plus autopilot system from Cloud Cap Technologies
Robotic Aerial Transport (RAT) - Great Planes Slinger
Weight: 2 pounds
Engine: E-flight 6 series motor (400 size)
Flight duration: 15 min with a 3600 mAh, 3 cell LiPo battery pack
Autonomous navigation via B-pilot, a custom compiled autopilot
Sub-vehicle/Rover
Ground station Setup:
* Piccolo Autopilot Ground station: Sony Laptop running windowsXP running the piccolo v1.3.2 software, connected to the piccolo ground station which transmits to the Piccolo Plus Autopilot on board the UAV via a 900Mhz spread spectrum radio.
* Vision Computer - Dual Xenon desktop running Ubuntu Linux Operating System, receives video via a Blackwidow 1W Tx/Rx system
* Vision Computer and Autopilot Ground Station connected through "such and such" router
* Rail Launcher 1 - Used for autonomous take off for Scout plane. Large scale rail launcher
* Rail Launcher 2 - Used for autonomous take off for RAT
* Yamaha Gas Generator - Generates the electricity both computers run from
* UPS - APC UPS capable of running computers for about 1 hour while generator is refueled if necessary
Level 1: Autonomous Flight
* A team must demonstrate autonomous flight over a distance of 3 km beginning at a designated starting point, with up to four other way points visited along the path and terminating in an autonomous hover or orbit about a designated final way point.
Our System:
* We will use Wildcat 8 and the Piccolo autopilot system to fly the 3 km path through the 6 way points.
* Way points are preprogrammed and uploaded to Piccolo Autopilot by Groundstation Operator
* Once attempt is initiated, UAV is launched from Rail Launcher 1 and flys the 3 km ingress
Level 2: Building Location Determination and Open Portal Search
* A team must demonstrate that it can identify the desired target structure from an autonomously flying aerial robot. Further, at least one open entry into the structure must be identified by the Aerial Robot.
* The IARC Symbol will be hung in an unkown location on one of the exterior walls of the desired target structure. Our team will use this symbol to identify the structure.
Our System:
* The Wildcat 8 will perform passes over the town and transmit video to our Vision Computer which will implement our Vision Software to find the symbol.
* Once found the software will then calculate a GPS location of the symbol based on the orientation of Wildcat 8, GPS location of Wildcat 8 and GPS location of the ground station. Based on the symbol GPS coordinate it will choose the nearest building to that coordinate as the target structure.
* For determining the open entry into the structure our vision software will take the image the symbol was found in and then search for windows within a certain distance away from the symbol and display the results to the judges
* This will let us find multiple entry ways into the building extremely effieceintly
Level 3: Target Structure Exploration
* A team must relay reconnaissance data derived from an autonomous Aerial Robot (or subvehicle) operating from within the target structure, back to the actual starting point (or a simulated starting point 3 km distant).
* Immediately prior to a run, the team must declare to the judges which of the three missions (and hence, which of the three target types) they are attempting.
Our System:
* We will fly a small foam UAV called the Robotic Aerial Transport (RAT) using a custom built and programmed autopilot of extremely low cost into the target structure. The RAT will be capable of flying a preset series of GPS way points to get to the target building.
* Our design then calls for the RAT to switch to a vision controlled steering program that will use an IR camera to fly towards the darkest square it sees which should be an open window into the building.
* If we are unable to get this IR system to work our RAT will simply fly to a specified GPS coordinate which corresponds to the window to gain entry into the building.
* Once the RAT has landed its payload will emerge. Its payload is our Rover which is a simple two wheeled autonomous robot with a camera. It will use the parallax propeller micro-controller and a custom programmed building mapping program to navigate through the building. The entire time it will be transmitting video which will be shown on the vision computer where the judges can identify the desired objects.
Level 4: The Whole Enchilada
* Level 4 is execution of the full mission profile in under 15 minutes.
Our System:
* Our system uses two UAVs, two computers and one small robot to complete the mission.
* The UAVs are fast enough to fly the 3 km flight required by any vehicle used in Level 4 in two minutes or less.
* Our system is modular and builds upon itself to complete the levels sequentially and quickly
