Defining a modular, high speed and robust avionic architecture for UAV's

This report covers the works in the NFFP project at Ångström Aerospace Corporation (ÅAC) in Uppsala, Sweden. The goals of the project is to, within the project span of three years, define and design a modular, robust and reliable avionics architecture based in microtechnology for UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). The project also incorporates a collaboration with Saab Aerosystems and their UAV helicopter ``Skeldar'', which is thought to carry the final architecture as a test platform. The thesis work of the author began at the starting phase of the NFFP project and was hence concentrated on the defining and feasibility aspects of the architecture. After doing some research on existing avionic systems and reading papers on new concepts such as Integrated Modular Avionics, design of a particular high speed network was initiated. After trips to UAV companies such as CybAero and Saab, where knowledge and feedback was obtained, an upgradable and modular architecture began to take shape. The final system, which is proposed in this thesis, was dubbed the ``ÅAC Modular Architecture'' (ÅMA). It was presented to ÅAC and Saab and later developed further in terms of UAV flight control. An overview of how the modularity of the ÅMA could be used in order to integrate changeable flight sensors is also given. The report thus consists of two parts, one dealing with the defining of the ÅMA, and the other covering how the ÅMA can sustain controlled flight with the help of different sensors and Kalman filters.Validerat; 20101217 (root