Paparazzi is an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...

system oriented toward inexpensive

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defi ...

aircraft. Low cost and availability enable hobbyist use in small

remotely piloted aircraft An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

. The project began in 2003, and is being further developed and used at

École nationale de l'aviation civile École nationale de l'aviation civile (; "National School of Civil Aviation"; abbr. ENAC) is one of 205 colleges (as of September 2018) accredited to award engineering degrees in Education in France, France. ENAC is designated as a grande école ...

(ENAC), a French civil aeronautics academy. Several vendors are currently producing Paparazzi autopilots and accessories.

Overview

An autopilot allows a remotely piloted aircraft to be flown out of sight. All hardware and software is

and freely available to anyone under the

GNU GNU ( ) is an extensive collection of free software (394 packages ), which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of operating systems popu ...

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. Paparazzi collaborators share ideas and information using the same

MediaWiki MediaWiki is free and open-source wiki software originally developed by Magnus Manske for use on Wikipedia on January 25, 2002, and further improved by Lee Daniel Crocker,mailarchive:wikipedia-l/2001-August/000382.html, Magnus Manske's announc ...

software that is used by

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

. 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.

Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...

released its Lisa/S chip project in 2013 which is based on Paparazzi.

Mechanisms

Hardware

Paparazzi supports for multiple hardware designs, including STM32 and

LPC2100 LPC (Low Pin Count) is a family of 32-bit microcontroller integrated circuits by NXP Semiconductors (formerly Philips Semiconductors). The LPC chips are grouped into related series that are based around the same 32-bit ARM processor core, suc ...

series

microcontroller A microcontroller (MC, uC, or μC) or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Pro ...

s. A number of CAD files have been released. Paparazzi provides for a minimum set of flight sensors: *

Attitude Attitude or Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), a disposition or state of mind ** Attitude change * Propositional attitude, a mental state held towards a proposition Science and technology * Orientation ...

(orientation about center of mass) estimation is done with a set of infrared

thermopile A thermopile is an electronic device that converts thermal energy into electrical energy. It is composed of several thermocouples connected usually in series or, less commonly, in parallel. Such a device works on the principle of the thermoel ...

s. *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

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

References

External links

Paparazzi Project
* ttps://events.ccc.de/congress/2007/Fahrplan/attachments/1033_paparazzi.pdf Build your own UAVbr>Paparazzi User Manual
{dead link, date=March 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
OSAM (Open Source Autonomous Multiple-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) at Utah State University(Open Source Drone Projects)
Avionics Aircraft instruments Unmanned aerial vehicles Open-source hardware