Parameters

Sensors are responsible for capturing the state associated with the drone and its surrounding environment.

• Sensor FPS (Hz): refers to how many images per second a sensor can capture. Higher FPS can decrease the interval between two snapshots of the environment and future increase safe velocity if the system is sensor-bound.

• Sensor Range (d): refers to the maximum depth distance at which the sensor can gather images. Higher sensor range can increase the aerial robot Field of View and further improve safety.

Onboard Compute is responsible for processing sensor data and producing output actions by running Sense-Plan-Act or neural networks autonomy algorithms. Depending upon the SWaP constraints, the onboard compute platforms can include CPU, GPU, or custom hardware accelerators.

1. • Compute Wattage (W): Total power consumption of the platform. Higher compute wattage comes with increased TDP (increase heatsink weight, PCB weight, etc), which will further decrease the thrust-to-weight ratio and the maximum attainable acceleration of the drone.

1. • Compute Runtime (s): It is time to process the autonomy algorithm to estimate the high-level action commands (or plan). Lower compute runtime can increase action throughput, and increase safe velocity if the system is compute-bound.

UAV physical parameters are responsible for supporting all components, including frames, actuators, and multiple sensors. How fast the UAV can travel primarily depends on how much thrust is produced by the rotors and the payload weight (total component weight in UAV).

• Rotor Pull (N): It is the thrust produced by the rotors in a UAV. It is a force and measured in Newtons.

• Drone Weight (g): The weight of body frames, rotors, and battery without any payload. A higher weight will decrease the thrust-to-weight ratio and the maximum attainable acceleration.

• Payload Weight (g): It is the total of all the payload weights (onboard compute(s), sensors(s), etc.). This weight is critical and can reduce the thrust-to-weight ratio and can reduce the acceleration capability of the UAV. Changing acceleration adds new roofs or ceilings in the F-1 roofline model.