Autopilot
Design &
Development
Software Development
The U.S. Army, Air Force, and other agencies needed small, locally controlled unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance, data relay stations, ground-placed sensor data acquisitions, and chem-bio data collection. These UAVs needed to be:
- Easily programmable
- Autonomous in flight
- Simple to operate
A small, lightweight, low-power, self-contained flight management system (FMS) was required for controlling the UAV.
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) designed and developed the FMS for the US Army Buster Program, providing a low-cost, small, and lightweight FMS with full autonomous launch, flight, and recovery functions as proscribed during the mission planning activity. The miniature FMS contains:
- Autopilot functions
- GPS guidance
- Air-to-ground data link
- Barometric sensors
- Power supplies for aircraft control functions
Data can be recorded to internal disk or chip memory.
Southwest Research Institute designed and developed the FMS for the US Army Buster® Program, providing a low-cost, small, and lightweight FMS with full autonomous launch, flight, and recovery functions as proscribed during the mission planning activity. Buster® UAV Courtesy of Mission Technologies
Related Terminology
aircraft engine performance • autopilot design and development • unmanned aerial vehicle • flight management system • Buster Program • GPS guidance • air-to-ground data link • barometric sensor • aircraft control
