Hardware in the loop based approach for development of fixed wing UAV autopilot

From target acquisition and surveillance missions to agricultural spraying, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have taken part in lots of different military and civilian projects and their usage is growing rapidly. Unmanned aerial vehicles are able to fly autonomously via autopilot systems. Altough the flight tests are the most important part of the autopilot development process they are difficult, costly and mostly dangerous. Also it is not likely to repeat these tests frequently so they slow down autopilot development process. At this point simulation softwares assist researchers. According to a simulation loop which is consisted of virtual components, a simulation loop which contains hardware components from a real autopilot system gives more realistic results and its reliabilty increases with every new physical component. This thesis presents a hardware in the loop (HIL) simulation system which is built during the development process of fixed wing UAV autopilot and explains design, components and working of an exemplary autopilot system which is created by using this HIL system.