FPGA-Based Digital Circuit Design for UAV Pilot-in-Loop System with Field Test Verification

Using a low-cost, small-size, fully functional FPGA board as a flight control computer (FCC) remains challenging when flying UAV s. The superior flexibility of configuring digital circuits in an FPGA is believed to increase the efficiency of every process required, from reading sensors and carrying out high-speed data communications to moving actuators. This paper shows a way to explain an FPGA digital circuit design description for a UAV FCC minimum system for flying a fixed-wing UAV, i.e., a pilot-in-Ioop system. The field test verification of the proposed design shows that no 50 Hz PWM data to drive actuators is lost from PPM data transmitted, wrapped in a 39-byte data protocol when the UAV is flown. Therefore, the pilot behavior when flying the aircraft can be recorded, which shows the intensity of the aileron and elevator movements.