Failsafe Module for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Lai Nguyen

Failsafe Module for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Lai Nguyen Jesse Xi Chen CMPE 490 Design Project 2010 w Abstract Our objective is to implement a failsafe module for an UAV designed by the University of Alberta Aerial Robotics Group (UAARG). The UVA is design for a competition involving navigating through various GPS way points and taking surveillance footages. Our fail-safe module will ensure that the autonomous aircraft will fly in a pre-defined manner in case of failure from the computerized autopilot and lost contact from back up RC controller. Pulse Width Signal We need to detect the pulse width signal generated from the receiver and determine if whether we still have valid contact with the controller. If the controller is turned off, receiver will generate pulses with random width and fail-safe module will switch in to gliding state. RC Controller and Receiver The RC Controller will transmit the user inputs as RF signals. The receiver will de-multiplex and convert the RF signal into pulse width modulated signals. The servo motors on the airplane will change its position depending on the signals passed from the receiver. One of the receiver signal will control what mode should the fail-safe module operate in. Implementation Both HW and SW solution for the objective was created. The HW solution involves loading the written VHDL code onto the FPGA board, which in turn control the output. SW solution have an extra long-distance operating mode than the HW solution. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering