Content area
Full Text
Abstract: Arnold KP. (2016). The UAV ground control station: Types, components, safety, redundancy, and future applications. International Journal of Unmanned Systems Engineering. 4(1): 37-50. As the use for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) gains popularity, so would the demand and increase in aerial activity controlled from one or more control stations. The UAV Ground Control Station (GCS) serves as critical part of the UAVs mission and provides the facility for the human control of aerial vehicles. In military applications, the GCS is as a hub for the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data generated by the unmanned aircraft's payload even though the UAV and GCS could be thousands of miles apart. As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) presents rules of operating UAVs in the National Airspace System (NAS), this opens the doors to commercial applications, such as Custom Border Patrol and applications where swarming techniques are used. These commercial applications will have the need for an efficient and safely operated GCS. The objective of this article is to present the various types of GCS, which include handheld, portable, mobile and fixed GCSs. The present article discusses basic components, including software, display, and telemetry. In addition, the article covers various types of aerial vehicles that are typically operated from a GCS. This article also discusses UAV enhancements and improvements, emphasises its safety features and addresses the importance of redundancy. Future GCS applications are suggested.
Copyright © 2016 Karl P. Arnold
Keywords: Automatic Frequency Hopping Digital System, Beyond line-of-site, Brain-computer interface, Electro-optical, Infrared, Master controller, Uninterruptible power source.
INTRODUCTION
The Ground Command Station (GCS) plays a crucial role in supporting any mission for manned and unmanned vehicles. This is where the control and intelligence behind the operation resides regardless of whether the vehicles are surface, submersible or air bound. The following focuses on the design and components of the GCS, but with an emphasis on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The GCS is the essential link to the aircraft [1]. It serves as the human interface to UAVs in the air. As such, it must provide the user with two basic functions: control over the flight of the UAVs themselves and easy effective access to the data that the UAVs collect [2]. As UAVs operations increase and...