Integration of a 40 Channel GPS Receiver for Automatic Control into an Unmanned Airplane

Jennifer Evans, Sharon Houck, Greg McNutt, Bradford Parkinson

Abstract:	Stanford University’s GPS Laboratory has developed, in coordination with Trimble Navigation Ltd., a new 40 channel GPS receiver specially designed for automatic control of an unmanned airplane. Recent flight tests of the airplane have demonstrated the integration of the receiver board with and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and other sensors. The new board consists of five, eight channel, parallel GPS receiver sections, all sharing a common oscillator, generating position, velocity, timing, and attitude outputs. The board stacks together with a single board computer (SBC) creating a highly powerful system easy to embed into the Stanford Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV), or other vehicles. The SBC calculates GPS attitude, blends inertial sensor information, determines control system parameters and outputs, and more. It communicates with the GPS board through the high-speed data bus. The fast communications will allow for inertial aiding signals to be feed into the GPS receivers. The inertial aiding leads to GPS tracking through higher dynamics, interference rejection, and faster GPS acquisition and re-acquisition. The inertial sensor integrated with this new board is the Honeywell HG1700 IMU. The fully integrated system is designed to be reliable and robust through satellite outages and large vehicle maneuvers. The new system is embedded and demonstrated in the Stanford UAV, the DragonFly. The airplane is a 12-foot wing span, heavily modified, model airplane. Four GPS antennas on top of the airplane provide GPS position, velocity, and attitude during normal flight operations. An additional antenna on the bottom of the airplane will allow for GPS position and velocity updates even through steep banking turns or aerobatic maneuvers.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1998) September 15 - 18, 1998 Nashville, TN
Pages:	1173 - 1180
Cite this article:	Evans, Jennifer, Houck, Sharon, McNutt, Greg, Parkinson, Bradford, "Integration of a 40 Channel GPS Receiver for Automatic Control into an Unmanned Airplane," Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1998), Nashville, TN, September 1998, pp. 1173-1180.
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