{"id":15287,"date":"2024-12-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dmcinfo.com\/our-work\/custom-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-uav-control-system\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T14:23:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:23:40","slug":"custom-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-uav-control-system","status":"publish","type":"our_work","link":"https:\/\/www.dmcinfo.com\/our-work\/custom-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-uav-control-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Custom Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Control System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>DMC implemented the onboard flight control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (also known as unmanned aerial system or UAS), which included the development and deployment of a ground-based control station for supervisory control and coordinating flights.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The UAVs used custom airframes, which required the control systems to be custom designed in order to accommodate the unique nature of the aircraft.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Airborne Flight Control System<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>DMC designed the UAV\u2019s flight control system to consist of 2 subsystems &#8212; power management and flight control:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n <li>The flight control subsystem, controlled by multiple high-performance microcontrollers, manages the processing of flight dynamics, ensuring accurate and responsive control as well as communication with the GCS over a wireless link.<\/li>\r\n <li>The power management subsystem provides safety measures, as well as manages power delivery and monitoring of the aircraft\u2019s actuators according to commands from the flight control subsystem.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<p>DMC\u2019s Embedded Team developed the airborne hardware and firmware with the following benefits:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n <li><strong>Redundant Flight Sensors: <\/strong>These include RTK GPS, IMU, compass, barometric pressure, etc. to provide robust positioning and attitude data for flight control and navigation.<\/li>\r\n <li><strong>Precise Trajectory:<\/strong> DMC developed custom real-time flight trajectory following controls, allowing users to specify an exact profile for the UAV to follow.<\/li>\r\n <li><strong>Redundant Power:<\/strong> DMC\u2019s power management subsystem supports power delivery from multiple sources, allowing reliable flight and providing users flexibility in battery options.<\/li>\r\n <li><strong>Redundant Communication:<\/strong> The UAV flight control system communicates to the GCS over a redundant wireless link to ensure reliable communication in a variety of conditions.<\/li>\r\n <li><strong>Enhanced Safety and Reliability:<\/strong> Following ISO-13849 design practices, DMC implemented comprehensive safety systems to automatically detect and address in-flight and grounded failures, ensuring operator safety and flight reliability at all times.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ground Control Station<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>Our teams built a ground control station to act as the command center for the UAV system, offering comprehensive supervisory capabilities with the heart of the station being a custom .NET C# application to interface with UAVs, operators, and ground-based sensors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>DMC\u2019s Application Development team designed this station with a focus on user-friendliness and adaptability and included:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n <li><strong>Real-Time Monitoring and Control.<\/strong> Providing operators with live flight data, including visualization of a UAV\u2019s path on a geo-referenced map.<\/li>\r\n <li><strong>Intuitive Touchscreen Interface.<\/strong> A custom-built graphical touchscreen interface enabling straightforward interaction and allowing operators to select flight trajectories, issue commands, and review diagnostics with ease.<\/li>\r\n <li><strong>Integrated Design.<\/strong> DMC developed the ground control station and onboard flight control system together, providing seamless interoperability between the two systems.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Flight Tuning and Path Planning<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>In addition to the system design and development, DMC\u2019s team of FAA Part 107 Certified Remote Pilots also performed real-world tuning.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Taking this additional step, DMC minimized the costs and material risks of flight controller tuning by developing a physics-based model of the aircraft and optimizing control inside a simulation environment prior to performing real-world tuning.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Our teams also developed a suite of custom flight planning tools in Python enabling the user to simplify visualizing and designing navigation missions and trajectories.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Learn more about DMC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmcinfo.com\/services\/embedded-development-and-embedded-programming\">Embedded Development and Embedded Programming<\/a> expertise and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmcinfo.com\/contact#get-in-touch\">contact us<\/a> for your next project.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DMC implemented the onboard flight control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (also known as unmanned aerial system or UAS), which included the development and deployment of a ground-based control station for supervisory control and coordinating flights. The UAVs used custom airframes, which required the control systems to be custom designed in order to accommodate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":31550,"template":"","meta":{"customer":"Universal Creative","summary":"DMC developed a comprehensive, custom turnkey control system for UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to the precise specifications of a client. DMC&#039;s Embedded Development and Embedded Programming and Application Development teams collaborated to deliver a robust integrated solution with a custom airborne Flight Controller (FC) and a custom Ground Control Station (GCS).","description":"","customer_benefits":"Custom-designed turnkey UAS solution tailored to meet specific Client requirements\r\n Precise autonomous control of custom aircraft\r\n Custom Ground Control Station (GCS) for flight control and monitoring\r\n Ability to control coordinated UAV flight (swarm)","components_used":"UAV System Design and hardware development\r\n High performance ARM Cortex MCUs\r\n UAV simulation\r\n Redundant flight sensors\r\n Redundant GPS\/GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers with RTK (Real-Time Kinematics)\r\n Real-Time C++\r\n .NET and C#\r\n Python","project":"UAV Control System","author":"John Nicholas","notes":"Need to be very careful with information put in this case study. Should not mention any of the following:\r\n - The client\u2019s name\r\n - The entertainment industry\r\n - The purpose of the project being a drone show\r\n - Exact component names (no CubeOrange, no Pixhawk, no Ardupilot, no PX4, no MAVLink)\r\n - Exact architecture (don\u2019t show a block diagram)\r\n - Don\u2019t mention safety\/reliability requirements pertaining to this project.\r\n\r\nFocus on DMC\u2019s ability to deliver a turnkey UAV control system with multiple components:\r\n - Onboard flight control PCB\r\n - Customized flight control firmware with custom features\r\n - Custom ground control software\r\n - Custom ground control operator station"},"work_category":[707,697],"class_list":["post-15287","our_work","type-our_work","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","work_category-aerospace-and-defense","work_category-embedded-development-programming"],"yoast_head":"<title>Custom Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Control System | DMC, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta 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