Development of a Distributed Multi-MCU Based Flight Control System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Jaw-Kuen Shiau; Wei-Sheng Hung; Cheng-Min  Chang

doi:10.6180/jase.2015.18.3.05

Development of a Distributed Multi-MCU Based Flight Control System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Jaw-Kuen Shiau This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.¹, Wei-Sheng Hung¹ and Cheng-Min Chang¹

¹Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tamkang University, Tamsui, Taiwan 251, R.O.C.

Received: March 20, 2015
Accepted: July 6, 2015
Publication Date: September 1, 2015

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.2015.18.3.05

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the design of a distributed multi-microcontroller based computing framework for UAV application. A DSPIC microcontroller (MCU) based system architecture is established first. The system contains three major parts, namely, sensing and attitude determination section, control section, and ground section. The sensing and attitude determination section consists of four circuit boards (master control board, slave control board, sensor board, and power supply board) of identical size (5 cm x 5 cm). The sensor board contains three axes inertial measurement unit, electronic compass unit, and a GPS receiver. The sensors and the DSPIC MCUs are connected via an I²C (inter-integrated circuit) data bus with the DSPIC of the master control board acting as the master MCU. Modular design was used to combine the master and slave control boards to form the system’s control section and to facilitate system expansion for accommodating additional avionics functions. UART interface was used for inter-section communication. Results of the design and simulation of a model-based flight control system with time delay were also included to demonstrate the success of the design of the distributed multi-MCU based flight control system.

Keywords: Distributed Control System, State Feedback, Delay Compensation, UAV

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