Autonomous Aerial System — 457kHz Beacon Detection
An autonomous aerial search and rescue system designed to locate avalanche burial victims using a 457kHz transceiver beacon. The drone implements a multi-phase search strategy — beginning with a lawnmower grid search pattern to cover the search area, transitioning to gradient ascent signal following as the beacon signal strengthens, and finalizing with a 4-point bracketing fine search modeled on real SAR beacon protocol.
The hardware stack is built on a PX4 X500 v2 airframe with a Pixhawk 6C flight controller and Raspberry Pi 4 companion computer. Flight algorithms are developed in MAVSDK-Python and tested in PX4 SITL simulation via QGroundControl before deployment on the physical vehicle.
// Key Specifications
ASR Drone — PX4 X500 v2 Assembly
Defined the full system architecture for the autonomous search and rescue platform. Selected hardware stack, established communication protocols between flight controller and companion computer, and defined the multi-phase search algorithm strategy.
Assembled the full drone platform — airframe, motors, ESCs, flight controller, and companion computer. All components integrated and wired on the PX4 X500 v2 airframe.
Configured the Pixhawk 6C flight controller using QGroundControl. Calibrated all sensors, set flight modes, and established MAVLink communication between the Pixhawk and the Raspberry Pi 4 companion computer.
Developing the autonomous search algorithm in MAVSDK-Python, tested in PX4 SITL simulation via QGroundControl. Implementing the three-phase search strategy: lawnmower grid coverage, gradient ascent signal following, and 4-point bracketing fine search.
████████████ ███████████ ████████ ████████████████ 457kHz ██████████ ████████ ███████████████ ████████ signal █████████ ██████████████ ██████
████████████ ████████████ avalanche █████████ ████████████████ ████████ ███████ ████████████ terrain ████████████████ █████████████ ████████ █████████████
████████████ full autonomous ████████████████ ████████████████ ████████ ███████ ████████████ ███████████████ validated █████████████ ████████ █████████████
████████████ custom ████████████████████████ ████████████████ platform ███████████████ ████████████ ███████████████ ████████ █████████████ ████████ █████████████
// Prospect — fully customized flight vehicle
development following mission validation.
Phase 1
Lawnmower pattern covers the full search area systematically. The drone flies parallel passes at defined spacing to ensure complete coverage of the avalanche zone before transitioning to signal following.
Phase 2
Once a beacon signal is detected, the drone transitions to gradient ascent — moving in the direction of increasing signal strength to close in on the burial location.
Phase 3
4-point bracketing fine search modeled on real SAR beacon protocol. Systematically narrows the search area to pinpoint the exact burial location with high precision.
Systems Engineering
Software & Algorithm
Fabrication & Integration