Week 5: How Drone Net Works - Hardware Pt. 1 - Cameras and Architecture

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Hello Everyone! This week, I have been reading many related research papers, continuing my study of C++ and experimental design. Because I am still learning about the advanced software engineering, the majority of my recent contributions have been in experimental design.

This week , I would like to dive into a discussion of the Drone Net hardware:

How is the Drone Net's camera system configured?

The camera system includes a Tegra K1 SoC, wireless 802.11, Ethernet wired, USB3, a PCIe card interface, and is able to support 2 USB3 visible cameras and between one and four analog cameras including long-wave infrared. 

The Drone Net operates on an open architecture. You may remember this term from earlier posts on this site. Generally, a computer is an open architecture if it is designed to allow its parts to be easily swapped out and modified. For example, an Apple iPhone is a closed architecture, because it utilizes a proprietary system to transfer data between processors and other pieces of hardware. 

For the Drone Net, the hardware is a "system composed of sub-systems that can be upgraded and the features and function of the SDMSI are totally defined by the software and capabilities of the components in terms of resolution, optics, and frame rates, spectral and dynamic range" (Sam Siewert, AIAA SciTech).

That set up design means that cameras can be instantly upgraded and modified to suit the dynamic needs of the Drone Net as a salient object detector.

Basic architectural schematic of drone net

Next week, we will discuss the first part of the drone net's software specifications.

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