Airframe:
We are currently evaluating a variety of airframes, but have performed full flight tests with the Sig Rascal 6200 aircraft. The wingspan is 110" and the plane is powered by a 30CC gas engine. It has been slightly modified for our purposes with features such as a custom lifting tail.
Sensors and CPU :
The bulk of the payload consists of a PC-104 formfactor 800Mhz crusoe processer to run the autopilot software. The software relies on various sensor inputs including a digital gyroscope for orientation, GPS unit with support for DGPS and WAAS, and a digital compass. The aircraft can accept control either from a typical handheld RC Aircraft transmitter, or it accepts control based on the autonomous guidance package. All sensors interface using RS-232 serial and are powered with lith-poly battery packs.
To communicate with the plane, we use 918Mhz 19.2kbps serial telemetry and a custom packet structure. When the plane is on the runway we also use 2.4Ghz 802.11b wireless. Images and video from the plane is sent using 430Mhz HAM-TV.
