Extending QGroundControl for Automated Mission Planning of UAVs

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become very popular in the last decade due to some advantages such as strong terrain adaptation, low cost, zero casualties, and so on. One of the most interesting advances in this field is the automation of mission planning (task allocation) and real-time replanning, which are highly useful to increase the autonomy of the vehicle and reduce the operator workload. These automated mission planning and replanning systems require a Human Computer Interface (HCI) that facilitates the visualization and selection of plans that will be executed by the vehicles. In addition, most missions should be assessed before their real-life execution. This paper extends QGroundControl, an open-source simulation environment for flight control of multiple vehicles, by adding a mission designer that permits the operator to build complex missions with tasks and other scenario items; an interface for automated mission planning and replanning, which works as a test bed for different algorithms, and a Decision Support System (DSS) that helps the operator in the selection of the plan. In this work, a complete guide of these systems and some practical use cases are providedThis work has been supported by the next research projects: EphemeCH (TIN2014-56494-C4-4-P) and DeepBio (TIN2017-85727-C4-3-P) by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (MINECO), both under the European Regional Development Fund FEDER, and by Airbus Defence & Space (FUAM-076914 and FUAM-076915