the mission

The Outback UAV Challenge mission requires the UAS to navigate an area of approximately 2 x 1 nautical miles in search of Outback Joe, a dummy fitted with an IR emitter lost somewhere in the Australian outback. Once found and verified with the event organisers, the UAV must then deliver 500ml of drinkable water as close to Joe as possible without hitting him. The UAV must then return for landing/recovery at the base whilst staying within the mission boundary at all times. The different stages of the mission are depicted in the diagram below.

takeoff

The selected takeoff method for the Andromeda aircraft is catapult launch. The catapult's advantage is that it propels the aircraft to flight velocity in a short amount of time making it possible to launch the aircraft from challenging locations and small clearings, a requirement that is vital to any small aircraft in search and rescue and fire-fighting roles. The original catapult used in our 2009 test vehicle is shown below. This catapult used a wooden frame and a bungee driven energy conversion system to propel our test vehicle to flight speed. For Andromeda our new aircraft, we are developing a custom designed catapult system to enable quicker and simpler launches.

search

Once airborne, the UAV must search an area of 2 x 3 nautical miles for 'Outback Joe', a dummy lost somewhere in the bush with an IR transmitter pointing straight up. The Andromeda aircraft must navigate the search area autonomously which can be achieved with the waypoint navigation feature of most off-the-shelf hobby or industry autopilots. The search area over Kingaroy, Australia is shown to the right. The autonomous detection of Outback Joe is rewarded with a significant amount of points in the competition, however manual detection through a camera is also allowed. The digital acquisition and transmission system onboard Andromeda allow the development of image processing systems to autonomously detect Joe, although the development and testing of this non-essential feature will be subject to the availability of time and resources.

drop

Once Joe has been located, the UAV will drop a 500ml bottle of water close to Joe using a parachute delivery system. The bottle must not hit Joe but land as closely as possible to him. A combination of GPS, wind estimation algorithms and vision feedback systems combined with the Andromeda autopilot will ensure accuracy during the drop.

return

Using the Andromeda autopilot, the aircraft will return to the launch site at Kingaroy airport while remaining within the search and mission boundaries.

landing/recovery

In our prototype vehicles, the landing mechanism has always been a belly-landing on a flat surface such as grass or sand. This has many advantages in terms of aircraft design simplicity and weight. For the competition, the landing or recovery mechanism is yet to be decided and could remain a belly-landing system or could evolve into more complex system such as net or hook capture. For more up to date information about the development on Andromeda, please visit the blog.