Title: AWEsome: An open-source test platform for airborne wind energy systems,
Abstract: In this paper we present AWEsome (Airborne Wind Energy Standardized
Open-source Model Environment), a test platform for airborne wind energy
systems that consists of low-cost hardware and is entirely based on open-source
software. It can hence be used without the need of large financial investments,
in particular by research groups and startups to acquire first experiences in
their flight operations, to test novel control strategies or technical designs,
or for usage in public relations. Our system consists of a modified
off-the-shelf model aircraft that is controlled by the pixhawk autopilot
hardware and the ardupilot software for fixed wing aircraft. The aircraft is
attached to the ground by a tether. We have implemented new flight modes for
the autonomous tethered flight of the aircraft along periodic patterns. We
present the principal functionality of our algorithms. We report on first
successful tests of these modes in real flights.