Design and implementation of a ground control station of an unmanned aerial vehicle for agricultural applications in Uganda

Abstract

This study examined the importance of a ground control station (GCS) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to be used by farmers in Kasese and Kiboga districts. The cost of constructing a UAV is high which makes it an expensive machine. Ground control stations are employed to provide UAV control via an interface hence preventing its loss. Furthermore, the GCS allows the farmers to easily monitor the large farms in less time. The objectives of this project were development of a database and a UAV interface that is based on android technologies. To achieve these objectives, the rapid application development methodology was followed to guide this study. Through this process, three main functional requirements were analyzed to assist in the design of the database and the system using UML diagrams. Programming languages such as Java and Javascript were used to implement these design models. Results indicated that the GCS must have three main components which are a vehicle companion computer, a database and a UAV interface (android application). A system test was conducted to check the functionality of each component and they were all working properly. The study concluded with recommendations that the GCS should consist of security measures and a failsafe mechanism.