The ground hardware employed includes a small suitcase referred to as the ground control station or GCS. The GCS has its own microprocessor dedicated to management of communications to the vehicle. The GCS also has a GPS receiver so that the location of the GCS can be properly located on map displays. The GCS normally runs from a 120 V AC power input, or a 12V DC input, and has an internal battery backup system.The GCS also requires a GPS antenna, and a 900 MHz data link antenna.
The vehicle operator manages the system with a laptop computer connected serially to the GCS and running application software known as the R.A.P.T.R. Command Center. This software enables the operator to plan and store missions, to configure the vehicle sensors, actuators and control system, to monitor mission execution and system health, to display the vehicle state on various map and photo overlays, and to store the telemetry data to disk.
Because the GCS manages communication, and not the application software employed by the operator on a PC, the PC, which may also be running other application software, can become corrupted and be rebooted without disrupting the flight operation. It is also possible in this design for multiple copies of the control software to be running on multiple PCs, all networked together, and for all of them to share vehicle data. Control system redundancy is achieved by linking multiple PC’s.
