Paparazzi Project

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paparazzi is an open-source autopilot system oriented toward inexpensive autonomous aircraft.[1] Low cost and availability enable hobbyist use in small remotely piloted aircraft.[2] The project began in 2003,[1] and is being further developed and used at École nationale de l'aviation civile (ENAC),[3] a French civil aeronautics academy. Several vendors are currently producing Paparazzi autopilots and accessories.

Overview[edit]

An autopilot allows a remotely piloted aircraft to be flown out of sight.[1] All hardware and software is open-source and freely available to anyone under the GNU licensing agreement. Open Source autopilots provide flexible software: users can easily modify the autopilot based on their own special requirements, such as forest fire evaluation.[4][5] Paparazzi collaborators share ideas and information using the same MediaWiki software that is used by Wikipedia.[6]

Paparazzi accepts commands and sensor data, and adjusts flight controls accordingly. For example, a command might be to climb at a certain rate, and paparazzi will adjust power and/or control surfaces. As of 2010 paparazzi did not have a good speed hold and changing function, because no air speed sensor reading is considered by the controller.[5]

Delft University of Technology released its Lisa/S chip project in 2013 which is based on Paparazzi.[7]

Mechanisms[edit]

Hardware[edit]

Paparazzi supports for multiple hardware designs, including STM32 and LPC2100 series microcontrollers. A number of CAD files have been released.

Paparazzi provides for a minimum set of flight sensors:[8]

  • Attitude (orientation about center of mass) estimation is done with a set of infrared thermopiles.
  • Position and altitude are obtained from a standard GPS receiver.
  • Roll rate measurement may be input from an optional gyroscope.
  • Acceleration from optional inertial sensors.
  • Direction from optional magnetic sensors.

Software[edit]

The open-source software suite "contains everything" to let "airborne system fly reliably".[9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Murat Bronz; Jean Marc Moschetta; Pascal Brisset; Michel Gorraz (December 2009). Mark Reeder (ed.). "Towards a Long Endurance MAV" (PDF). International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles. 1 (4): 244–245. doi:10.1260/175682909790291483. ISSN 1756-8293. S2CID 110227864. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  2. ^ "Getting Started With Paparazzi". DYI DRONES. 31 October 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  3. ^ Allan Henrikki Ojala (2010), Installing Paparazzi Autopilot into a Model Airplane (pdf) (Bachelor degree study), University of Applied Sciences Finland
  4. ^ Drones 101: Open Source Autopilot. Hak5.org.
  5. ^ a b HaiYang Chao; YongCan Cao & YangQuan Chen (August 2010). Jae-Bok Song (ed.). "Autopilots for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Survey" (pdf). International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems. 8 (1): 36–44. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.475.6764. doi:10.1007/s12555-010-0105-z. ISSN 2005-4092. S2CID 15062628. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  6. ^ "Welcome To Paparazzi". Paparazzi.enac.fr.
  7. ^ Finley, Klint (August 28, 2013), "World's smallest drone autopilot system goes open source", Wired, wired.com
  8. ^ "The Paparazzi Solution" (PDF). Paparazzi.enac.fr. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 24, 2013.
  9. ^ "Paparazzi Software". Paparazzi.enac.fr. 7 October 2011.

External links[edit]