Innovative Low-Cost Design of a Ground Control Station for Unmanned Aerial Systems Experimentation

The Ground Control Station is a key component of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems used in civil and military field all over the world, and its definition has a critical role in the system’s design process. It provides the connection between the human remote pilot and the airborne part of the Unmanned Aircraft System, the drone. A modern Ground Control Station can do more than just relaying steering commands to the drone; indeed, it provides an important contribution to the safety of the operations by presenting to the pilot suitable pre-processed information from the drone and other secondary data sources.