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Case study

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UAV mission command and control on ROS2 and DDS

A custom command-and-control and ground-control system for multi-UAV missions, built on ROS2 with Fast-DDS, with encrypted links, imagery intelligence and an Electron ground-control station.

Role
CTO: architecture and hands-on code
Domains

Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data

Illustrative concept, not a product screenshot
Contents

Context

Multi-UAV missions needed one system to plan them, watch them and act on what the aircraft saw. We built a custom command-and-control and ground-control system for them, on ROS2 with Fast-DDS on the backend.

Constraints

  • Several aircraft in one mission, each streaming telemetry to the ground.
  • Encrypted air-to-ground links.
  • Navigation where GPS cannot be relied on, so the system supports GPS-denied navigation.
  • Imagery turned into intelligence on the ground, in real time.

Architecture

UAV mission command and control on ROS2 and DDS
UAV mission command and control on ROS2 and DDS Components by lane. Aircraft: UAVs (MAVLink autopilots). Link: Encrypted air-to-ground link. Ground (ROS2 over Fast-DDS): Telemetry; Mission planning and monitoring; GPS-denied navigation support; Imagery intelligence (OpenCV); Ground-control station (Electron: desktop and web builds). Flows: UAVs to Encrypted air-to-ground link; Encrypted air-to-ground link to Telemetry; Encrypted air-to-ground link to Imagery intelligence (imagery); Mission planning and monitoring to Encrypted air-to-ground link (commands); GPS-denied navigation support to Encrypted air-to-ground link; Telemetry to Ground-control station; Imagery intelligence to Ground-control station; Mission planning and monitoring to Ground-control station. Aircraft Link Ground (ROS2 over Fast-DDS) UAVs MAVLink autopilots Encrypted air-to-ground link Telemetry Mission planning and monitoring GPS-denied navigation support Imagery intelligence OpenCV Ground-control station Electron: desktop and web builds imagery commands UAV mission command and control on ROS2 and DDS Components by lane. Aircraft: UAVs (MAVLink autopilots). Link: Encrypted air-to-ground link. Ground (ROS2 over Fast-DDS): Telemetry; Mission planning and monitoring; GPS-denied navigation support; Imagery intelligence (OpenCV); Ground-control station (Electron: desktop and web builds). Flows: UAVs to Encrypted air-to-ground link; Encrypted air-to-ground link to Telemetry; Encrypted air-to-ground link to Imagery intelligence (imagery); Mission planning and monitoring to Encrypted air-to-ground link (commands); GPS-denied navigation support to Encrypted air-to-ground link; Telemetry to Ground-control station; Imagery intelligence to Ground-control station; Mission planning and monitoring to Ground-control station. Aircraft Link Ground (ROS2 over Fast-DDS) UAVs MAVLink autopilots Encrypted air-to-ground link Telemetry Mission planning and monitoring GPS-denied navigation support Imagery intelligence OpenCV Ground-control station Electron: desktop and web builds imagery commands
Components and flows

Components

Aircraft
UAVs (MAVLink autopilots)
Link
Encrypted air-to-ground link
Ground (ROS2 over Fast-DDS)
Telemetry
Mission planning and monitoring
GPS-denied navigation support
Imagery intelligence (OpenCV)
Ground-control station (Electron: desktop and web builds)

Flows

  • UAVs to Encrypted air-to-ground link
  • Encrypted air-to-ground link to Telemetry
  • Encrypted air-to-ground link to Imagery intelligence (imagery)
  • Mission planning and monitoring to Encrypted air-to-ground link (commands)
  • GPS-denied navigation support to Encrypted air-to-ground link
  • Telemetry to Ground-control station
  • Imagery intelligence to Ground-control station
  • Mission planning and monitoring to Ground-control station
  • Backbone: ROS2 with Fast-DDS on the backend, so every part of the ground system publishes and subscribes to the same data.
  • Aircraft: autopilots speaking MAVLink over encrypted air-to-ground links.
  • Mission planning and monitoring, with live telemetry.
  • GPS-denied navigation support.
  • Imagery intelligence: OpenCV-based processing of the aircraft's imagery.
  • Ground-control station built on Electron, with both desktop and web builds from the same codebase.

I researched RTI Connext DDS for military-grade communications; production used Fast-DDS.

Terrain MULTI-UAV MISSION

  • AIRCRAFT ON PLANNED ROUTES
  • CAMERA FOOTPRINT
  • GPS DENIED
  • POSITION UNCERTAINTY
  • GROUND STATION
  • ENCRYPTED LINK
  • LINK MASKED BY TERRAIN

Illustrative concept, not a product screenshot. Terrain: public Terrarium elevation tiles over the Karakoram, chosen for relief.

Key decisions

  1. Fast-DDS with ROS2 in production; RTI Connext was researched only.

My role

As CTO of the engineering company I co-founded, I designed the system and wrote large parts of it with the team, from the ROS2 backend to the ground-control station.

Outcome

A working command-and-control and ground-control system for multi-UAV missions: planning, monitoring and telemetry over encrypted links, GPS-denied navigation support and imagery intelligence, with a ground-control station that runs on the desktop and in the browser.

Stack

Each links to its entry on the stack page

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