The Georgia Tech VTOL UAV Testbed – The GTMax, As an Open System for UAV Research and Development

This paper will present the development of a unique open system Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) testbed at Georgia Tech and its use in the DARPA Software Enabled Control (SEC) Program. The School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology has been involved in VTOL UAV technology development for over the past twelve years. This has included helping initiate the International Aerial Robotics Competition and winning it in 1993 with the first demonstration of autonomous flight, including takeoff and landing, in a VTOL UAV. This was followed by the U.S. Army Autonomous Scout Rotorcraft Testbed (ASRT) project from 1994 to 1997 in which Georgia Tech successfully performed an autonomous mission, although the testbed utilized, a small hobby Xcell helicopter, was less than satisfactory. This was followed from 1997 to present with flight controls and software enabled control research for the Army, Air Force and DARPA using much more robust VTOL UAV testbeds based on the Yamaha R-50 and R-Max Remotely Piloted Helicopters (RPHs). Under the DARPA SEC Program the Yamaha R-Max has been integrated with modular avionics hardware and software, a robust nonlinear neural network adaptive low level controller, and an open system middleware, designated the Open Control Platform (OCP), to form the GTMax. The development of the GTMax provides an open system for UAV research and development.