Development of UAV control system architecture with integrated visual navigation for agricultural monitoring

Abstract

The development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with first-person view (FPV) cameras is advancing rapidly, posing novel engineering and scientific challenges. Research areas related to the implementation of operator assistance systems and partial flight automation are becoming increasingly relevant. This work is devoted to the development of the hardware component of an FPV UAV control system for partial flight automation based on visual navigation principles. The developed FPV UAV control system architecture features an original integration of a flight mode controller into the existing conventional flight controller-based control system. The paper presents an algorithm and describes the operational principles of the flight mode controller, which serves as the core element integrating the visual navigation system into the UAV’s control system. Testing of the proposed control system architecture was conducted using a custom-built UAV designed for monitoring tasks. The UAV’s maximum takeoff weight is 5.5 kg, and its propeller diameter is 22 inches. The average command latency of the flight mode controller is 0.42 ms, which increases the total control delay by 5.3% at a refresh rate of 250 Hz. The proposed solutions for visual navigation system integration allow the operator to control the UAV and switch flight modes without significant delays.