Design of a launch and forget aerial relay node integrating advanced control and communications methods

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The company Ultra Electronics TCS is developing the Multi-Mission Radio (MMR) designed to, among other applications, maintain broadband inter-connectivity between On-The-Move (OTM) ground vehicles and teams deployed in tactical, logistic, robotic, public safety or disaster recovery missions. All OTM communication systems suffer however from the same limitation: effective range.To increase MMR communication capabilities and improve its market chances, this project seeks to develop specific aerial platform architectures and auto-navigation algorithms that leverage UAV technologies to offer range extension capabilities in support of tactical and emergency communications at a low cost, easy to transport, and no needs of technical training. To reach this goal, the project will proceed in three phases: the first is the aerial relay node design which characterizes the best aerial vehicle architectural approach to satisfy a set of stringent and sometimes conflicting requirements provided by Ultra. The second is the developement and integration of control and communication algorithms designed to provide the aerial node with range extension and auto-navigation capabilities. The third phase is the implementation of the developed control and navigation algorithms on a commercial off-the-shelf prototype in order to test experimentally the performance and limitations of these algorithms. The project, once realized, will significantly boost Ultra TCS image and help them show strong differentiation and clear innovation over the competition.