Avionics systems design for cooperative unmanned air and ground vehicles

Abstract

This thesis summarizes the results of the design of avionics systems intended for use onboard unmanned air and ground vehicles, that are parts of a multi-vehicle system whose primary mission objective is to provide up-close surveillance capability from a large stand-off distance. Different types of cooperative action between air and ground vehicles, that can help to enhance the overall system surveillance capability, are analyzed, including communication relay, simultaneous visual surveillance of ground objects from air and ground vehicles, and visual coverage of ground vehicles from air vehicles. Both hardware and software design as well as practical implementation of the designed avionics systems are discussed, and results of field tests are presented.