Embedded control and development system for the HERO autonomous helicopter

This paper describes the design and implementation of the HERO helicopter, a low-cost UAV platform for research in control and perception, with autonomous flight and on-board image processing capabilities. First, general system goals and requirements are presented, along with a functional description. Then, system design and implementation issues are analysed, including airframe, hardware and software architectures. The paper focuses specially on the low-level controller and its implementation, including its flexible, modular runtime support system and off-line simulation tools. System modularity allows for easy system upgrade and reconfiguration. Finally, real flight experimental results are presented, including the tracking of a complex waypoint path.