Randall MarshAugust 28, 2013TU Delft has developed the world’s smallest autopilot

With the help of the tiny autopilot, UAVs could be small enough to fit in your pocket

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As the word "drone" has become so commonplace that you can literally build a UAV out of anything, researchers are aiming to make the technology smaller and more usable in everyday practice. Bart Remes, project manager at the Micro Aerial Vehicle Laboratory at the TU Delft faculty of Aerospace Engineering, has led a group of researchers to the creation of the world's smallest autopilot.

The team's goal is to eventually create MAVs (Micro Aerial Vehicles) small enough to fit into your pocket, but that does little good when you have to carry around a controller for the craft as well – hence, the quest to create a tiny autopilot system.

The system has been dubbed Lisa/S, and it weighs in at just 1.9 grams (0.07 oz) with a footprint of 2 x 2 cm (0.8 x 0.8 in). "Part of the challenge was just making everything fit to such a small board," Remes tells Gizmag. "We had to write software from scratch that could fit the small module, and communicate with the ground station and an RC at the same time." The radio receiver/datalink technology that the team used is known as SuperbitRF, and it is open-source paparazzi software.

Remes says that he hopes to help make UAVs as common as a cell phone or laptop, which is what drove his team to propagate the software as open-source. "The best way to [make UAVs prevalent] is making [the software] available for the public, so they can come up with the killer application, like Facebook is for the smartphone," Remes explains.

"The overall strategy of the lab is to make everything smaller, lightweight, and computationally and electrically efficient. Why? Because in the flying world everything is about weight and efficiency. If the autopilot is smaller and more efficient, you can fly longer or carry more payload," Remes says. The smaller autopilot allows an MAV to stay in the air longer and carry higher-quality cameras or sensors. This is ideal for the team's intended search and rescue purpose.

Specifically, the team is looking to firefighting and building reconnaissance as key uses for Lisa/S. "The technology is ready. Only, the rules make it hard to implement it, just yet. When the governments make it possible, it will happen," says Remes.

The video below is a flight demonstration of one of the team's MAVs using the Lisa/S autopilot.

Source: TU Delft

TU Delft已研发出世界上最小的微型自动驾驶仪

兰达尔marshaugust 28，2013tu代尔夫特已经开发出世界上最小的autopilot
随着微型自动驾驶仪的帮助下，无人机可以小到可以放在你的口袋里< / P >图像画廊（11张）
为“雄蜂”已经成为如此普遍，你可以建立一个无人机了什么，研究人员的目标是使该技术在日常生活中更小、更实用。巴特Remes，在微型飞行器实验室在航天工程的代尔夫特学院项目经理，带领的一组研究人员对世界上最小的自动驾驶仪的创造。

团队的目标是最终建立小牛（微充气Al）足够小，以适应你的口袋，但这并不好，当你必须随身携带的工艺，以及-因此，寻求建立一个微小的自动驾驶系统。< /对>该系统已被称为丽莎/秒，它的重量仅为1.9克（0.07盎司）的足迹为2×2厘米（0.8×0.8英寸）。挑战的一部分就是使一切适合这么小的板，”雷米斯告诉Gizmag。”我们不得不从头开始写软件，能适应小模块，并与地面站同时RC沟通。”无线电接收器/数据链技术，研究小组利用被称为superbitrf，它是开源的狗仔队软件。

雷米斯说他希望使无人机作为常见的手机或笔记本电脑，这是什么使他的团队宣传软件作为开源的。”以[使无人机普遍]使[供公共软件]的最佳方式，所以他们能拿出杀手级应用，如Facebook的智能手机，”雷米斯说。

”总体战略的实验室是让一切变小，重量轻，计算和电效率。为什么？因为在飞行世界里一切都是关于重量和效率。如果驾驶的是更小的和更有效的，你可以飞长或携带更多的有效载荷，”雷米斯说。小型自动驾驶仪允许MAV在空中停留更长的时间和更高质量的摄像机或传感器。这对于球队的预期的搜索和救援的目的是理想。

具体来说，团队正在消防和建筑勘察重点使用丽莎/美国“技术准备。只是，规则使得它很难实现它，只是。当政府成为可能，它会发生，”说，雷米斯。

下面的视频是一个飞行演示的球队之一的小牛用丽莎的自动驾驶仪。

来源：TU Delft