A communication system approach for a small scale RPAS demonstrator

The move from a purely remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS) via air vehicles using automated systems up to a fully autonomous platform is a way that is being followed today. Using automatic take-off and/or landing (ATOL) or waypoint flying, the path towards more complex technologies for RPAS control is clear. Inserting such new technologies into an aerial platform requires extensive testing from an early project phase. Due to the complex nature of environment-related system inputs combined with highly complex algorithms, a pure ground testing will never be able to stimulate those new developments properly. At this point flying testbeds will be used as test vehicles for new equipment operating under real conditions. This paper describes the conceptional design and hardware realization of the datalink system of such a RPAS technology demonstrator testbed for autonomous concepts in the sub-150kg class. Designed light enough to respect certification limitations, this small scale RPAS shall be able to carry realistic avionics hardware undergoing testing in real environment for use as a cheap and flexible testbed. Driven by the concept of flight operations within a dedicated test range and pushed by flight safety a reliable communication system had to be designed to assure a secure conduction and surveillance of the flight, while still being able to interact with the experiments onboard.