System Architecture for Autonomous Drone-Based Remote Sensing

Abstract

Thanks to modern autopilot hardware and software, multi-rotor drones can fly and perform different maneuvers in a precise way, guided merely by high-level commands. This, in turn, opens the way towards fully automated drone-based systems whose operation can be driven by a computer program, without any human intervention. In this work, we present a modular architecture for such a system, which integrates a drone, a hangar, battery charger and a weather station with the necessary software components so as to provide an autonomous remote sensing service, which can operate at the edge while being interfaced as needed with external systems and applications. The proposed system architecture is described in detail, focusing on the core software components and the interaction between them. We also discuss the drone and ground station that is used to test our implementation in the field as well as a simulation environment which allows us to perform a wide range of experiments in a flexible and controlled way.