Integrated pan/tilt sensor system and flight controls

Pointable sensor systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are essential for required tasks such as vehicle tracking. This paper details the avionics and controller design, integration, and testing effort of a pan/tilt sensor package for use with the GTMax helicopter testbed, based on the Yamaha RMax platform, in use at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The sensor package was designed to be self-contained with its own control computer and angle sensors; it requires only a 12V power supply and serial interface to an external computer for targeting commands. Additionally, the control system was designed to use feedforward information from the helicopter flight control system to anticipate and compensate for commanded helicopter attitude changes. The integrated pan/tilt and helicopter flight control aspect was added to improve pointing performance during helicopter maneuvers. This paper discusses the tests performed on the system to verify that all requirements were met, gives an analysis of the control system, and includes suggestions for improvement.