Avionics system design of a mini VTOL UAV

In this paper, the avionics system design of a mini vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capable Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) namely a Quadrotor will be described. The Turkish Air Force Academy personnel together with a team of cadets have been working on the design and development of an autonomous quadrotor vehicle for educational purposes. The main emphasize was to study the flight dynamics of such vehicle but the development of onboard electronics that consist of sensor payload, embedded computer and other hardware along with the embedded software was such a critical work package under the project that required special emphasis and an innovative approach. A new avionic architecture that is derived from the rationale of Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architecture of today's larger platforms is proposed and currently being implemented within the framework of our project. The advantages of this approach for the development of mini/micro UAVs along with the academic education of our cadets will be discussed.