Autonomous UAS controlled by onboard smartphone

The continued growth of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) is driving innovation from delivery techniques to military surveillance. Cost and knowledge barriers are major limiting factors to general UAS adoption. A UAS controlled by an onboard smartphone is proposed to leverage consumer understanding and transform the emergent industry. Based upon user-supplied GPS flight path coordinates, the UAS can subsequently take flight, collect relevant data, and safely land without further instruction. This project consists of a 1.5-meter wingspan airplane carrying an Android smartphone connected via IOIO interface to servos that actuate the control surfaces and motor. With the exception of the initial GPS coordinates, no live direction is necessary for operation. Primarily, this level of autonomy was achieved by aggregating a diverse set of known algorithms to collectively validate the feasibility of smartphone-controlled autonomous systems.