Development of a UAV Flight Control Computer for High Altitude Environments and the Results of Observation Flights in Antarctica

The authors have been developing small fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for use in various scientific observations. For example, in Antarctica, atmospheric observations have been conducted using a combination of a balloon and UAV. In Ethiopia, wide-area magnetic field observations have been conducted using a UAV capable of long-range flights. These UAVs are equipped with an in-house flight control computer and are capable of automatic flights. However, although approximately 20 years have passed since the development of this computer, issues such as inadequate computing power and memory as well as insufficient number of output ports for pulse width modulation signals remain, posing challenges when constructing complicated systems. To solve these problems, we developed a flight-control computer using a 32-bit microcontroller designed to conduct atmospheric observation missions in Antarctica and withstand low temperature environments down to -40°C. Aerosol observations and sample-return missions were conducted in Antarctica, and aerosol samples were successfully collected at an altitude of 27 km using the developed computer. This paper provides detailed descriptions of the developed flight control computer named “AP-CUB-G2” and the results of the atmospheric observation flight in Antarctica.