1 Functional Architecture for Autonomous Vehicle Operations

A functional architecture is proposed, which allows the autonomous operation of unmanned aerial vehicles. This hierarchical architecture is driven by certification constraints, the necessary interaction with the ground control stations and must enable future growth and variable levels of autonomy. On the highest level there are modules for vehicle and mission management. Subordinate to them is the management of payload, communications, onboard energy and flight itself. Within each of these modules, a process containing decision making, planning, execution and monitoring/interpretation is continuously running. Information is distributed across the architecture. (Re-) planning of the mission is shared across several modules, but with clear interfaces. I