Develop an autopilot platform capable of extended flight in a GNSS-denied environment for search and rescue missions.
We proudly announce the new Pixhawk 2.1 integration with Inertial Labs’ INS-P. Operating on the Ardupilot firmware, this complete open source autopilot solution can be fully customized for use across a wide variety of applications in addition to search and rescue adaptations.
Logging data and performing preconfigured flight maneuvers is critical whether the solution is used for Remote Sensing or Bathymetric surveys.
Many warehouse operations rely on low-cost autonomous navigation solutions. Organizing customer shipments and relocating incoming and outgoing packages can easily be streamlined using unmanned ground vehicles.
Optionally configurable with additional infrared, thermal, or HD RGB cameras, the Pixhawk Autopilot can monitor and recognize vehicles and people from several kilometers away.
The Pixhawk Autopilot is a robust navigation solution for unmanned aerial vehicles featuring top-of-the-line options that are unparalleled in the marketplace. Some of the features include the usability with peripherals, companion computers, and radio controllers.
Enhanced communications make the Pixhawk Autopilot a standout solution whether users need line of sight (LOS) or beyond line of site (BLOS) functionality.
For typical operations, the embedded LOS module transmits communication on the 400 MHz and 900 MHz frequencies.
A highly accurate navigational solution, the Pixhawk Autopilot integration with the INS-P allows precision navigation whether or not GNSS connection is available. And, although out-of-the-box the autopilot is sufficiently robust for most users, it is very easy to customize to your specific needs.
Working with firmware solutions such as Ardupilot makes customization of this flight controller even easier.
The Ardupilot platform allows for many aiding data features to be input into the Ardupilot Kalman Filter to help for a more robust navigation solution. Options include: airspeed sensors, optical flow sensors, ultrasonic sensors and many more. These additional tools give the user the ability to create custom solutions for collision avoidance and object tracking; now with the enhanced navigational accuracy from the Inertial Labs INS-P.
Inertial Labs’ accurate sensing components and robust Kalman Filter contribute to high performance in a GNSS-denied environment. The INS-P’s fluxgate magnetometer and tactical grade IMU are manufactured and temperature calibrated in house, and the Kalman filter identifies and filters the best data from each sensor depending on GNSS availability.
The resulting Pixhawk Autopilot integration benefits from our data fusion expertise, as the algorithm can properly manage and fuse data from different sources: magnetic field data, inertial data from MEMS-based gyroscopes and accelerometers, and GNSS data.
The Ardupilot firmware then instructs the autopilot how to use the combined information to output flight data for UAVs to ensure optimal positioning and flight performance for an assortment of aerial platforms.
The INS-P is connected to the Pixhawk Autopilot using the standard RS-232 serial interface and the resulting integration fuses together IMU and GNSS data from the INS-P and uses it in the Ardupilot Kalman Filter on the Pixhawk. This data from the Inertial Labs INS-P includes necessary navigation data such as position, velocity, and a time stamp. In turn, this data fuses with Pixhawk Autopilot sensor data, which includes:
There is a myriad of reasons that users may need to operate when GPS is not available, regardless of whether the outage is due to terrain, spoofing/jamming, or something else. During an hour-long GNSS outage, horizontal position drift for the Pixhawk Autopilot integration tops out at an estimated 9 nautical miles (NM).
Although there are other alternatives, including a common ring laser gyro-based navigation system that have similar results, the Pixhawk Autopilot integration solution comes in at one-third of the cost, offering a far better price-performance ratio with the enhanced benefit of customization.
With more than 20 years as a leader in the navigation solutions, Inertial Labs offers robust navigation solutions for a wide variety of applications that allow users to input aiding data from other sensing components into our robust Kalman Filter.
Our Pixhawk Autopilot integration with the INS-P allows end users to increase system and navigational performance by using existing aiding data sources that may include airspeed sensors, attitude data (heading, pitch or roll), wind speed sensors, doppler velocity logs, and external altitude information. This integration is just another one of the many ways Inertial Labs is continuing to improve and enhance the autonomous community.
At Inertial Labs, we value customer satisfaction and want to continuously provide solutions specifically tailored to today’s problems, while aggressively developing products that tackle tomorrow’s concerns. Your opinion is always important to us whether you are a student, an entrepreneur, or an industry heavyweight. Please share your thoughts on our products, what you would like them to achieve, or just say hello at opinions@inertiallabs.com
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