Zimbalwa izinsuku ezedlule abamele i-ejensi yasemkhathini yeNASA, engxoxweni ne-Spectrum IEEE, iveze imininingwane mayelana ne-Ingenuity autonomous reconnaissance helicopter, efike ngempumelelo kuMars njengengxenye yemishini kaMars 2020.
Isici esikhethekile wephrojekthi bekungukusetshenziswa kwebhodi yokulawula esekwe yiQualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC, esetshenziswa ekukhiqizeni ama-smartphones. Isoftware yobuhlakani isuselwa ku-Linux kernel kanye nesoftware yendiza evulekile yomthombo.
Kumele kuqashelwe ukuthi lokhu kungukusetshenziswa kokuqala kweLinux kumkhumbi-mkhathi othunyelwe eMartfuthi. Ngokwengeziwe, ukusetshenziswa kwesoftware yomthombo ovulekile nezinto zezingxenyekazi zekhompuyutha ezitholakalayo ezentengiselwano kuvumela abathanda ukwazi ukuqoqa ama-drones afanayo bebodwa.
Lesi sinqumo singenxa yokuthi ukulawula i-drone endizayo kudinga amandla amaningi kakhulu wekhompyutha kunokulawula i-rover, efakwe ama-chips akhiwe ngokukhethekile anokuvikelwa kwemisebe okwengeziwe. Isibonelo, ukugcina indiza kudinga ukusebenza kweluphu yokulawula ngesilinganiso semijikelezo engama-500 ngomzuzwana, kanye nokuhlaziywa kwesithombe ngesilinganiso samafreyimu angama-30 ngomzuzwana.
I-Snapdragon 801 SoC (I-Quad Core 2,26GHz, i-2GB RAM, i-32GB Flash) isetshenziselwa ukuhlinzeka ngemvelo eyisisekelo esekwe ku-Linux, ebhekele ukusebenza esezingeni eliphakeme njengokuzulazula okubukwayo okususelwa ekuhlaziyweni kwezithombe zekhamera, ukuphathwa kwedatha, ukucutshungulwa kwemiyalo, ukukhiqizwa kwe-telemetry kanye nokugcinwa kweziteshi zokuxhumana ezingenantambo.
Iprosesa ixhuma nge-interface ye-UART kuma-microcontroller amabili (MCU Texas Instruments TMS570LC43x, ARM Cortex-R5F, 300 MHz, 512 KB RAM, 4 MB Flash, UART, SPI, GPIO) ezenza imisebenzi yokulawula izindiza.
Ama-microcontroller amabili asetshenziselwa ukuphindisela emsebenzini uma kwenzeka kwehluleka futhi bathola imininingwane efanayo evela kuzinzwa. I-microcontroller eyodwa kuphela esebenzayo, kanti eyesibili isetshenziswa njengesipele futhi uma kwenzeka yehluleka ingalawula. I-FPGA MicroSemi ProASIC3L inesibopho sokudlulisa idatha kusuka kuzinzwa kuya kuma-microcontroller kanye nokusebenzisana nama-actuator alawula ama-blade, nawo ashintshela ku-microcontroller eguqukayo uma kwenzeka kwehluleka.
Okweqembu, i-drone isebenzisa i-altimeter ye-SparkFun Electronics laser, inkampani evulekile yomthombo wehadiwe kanye nomunye wabadali bencazelo ye-open source hardware (OSHW). Phakathi kwezinye izinto ezijwayelekile, i-gyrostabilizer (IMU) namakhamera evidiyo asetshenziswa kuma-Smartphones avelele.
Ikhamera ye-VGA isetshenziselwa ukulandelela indawo, ukuqondiswa nokushesha ngokuqhathanisa uzimele-ngohlaka. Ikhamera yombala yesibili engu-13 megapixel isetshenziselwa ukudala izithombe zendawo.
Ukuletha ubuhlakani eMars ucezu olulodwa nokuyiphakamisa futhi ihlale ngisho nakanye kuwukunqoba okucacile kweNASA, kusho uTim Canham weJPL.
UCanham usize ukuthuthukisa ukwakhiwa kwesoftware okusebenzisa ubuhlakani. Njengomholi wezokusebenza kobuhlakani, manje usegxile ekuhleleni izindiza nasekusebenzisaneni nethimba lePerseverance rover. Sikhulume neCanham ukuqonda kangcono ukuthi ubuhlakani buzoncika kanjani ekuzimeleni ezindizeni zayo ezilandelayo eziya eMars.
Izingxenye zesoftware yokulawula izindiza zenzelwe i-NASA's JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) yeziphuphutheki ezincane nezincane ezincane zomhlaba (ama-cubsats) futhi sezakhiwe iminyaka eminingana njengengxenye yesikhulumi esivulekile i-F Prime (F´), esatshalaliswa ngaphansi Ilayisense le-Apache 2.0.
UF Prime uhlinzeka ngamathuluzi wokuthuthukiswa okusheshayo kwezinhlelo zokulawula izindiza nezinhlelo zokusebenza ezishunyekiwe ezihlobene. Isoftware yendiza ihlukaniswe yaba yizinto ngazinye ezinendawo yokuxhumana echazwe kahle.
Ngokungeziwe ezintweni ezikhethekile, uhlaka lwe-C ++ lunikezwa ngokuqaliswa kwezici ezinjengokuma kolayini nokufundwa okuningi, kanye namathuluzi wokumodela akuvumela ukuthi uxhumanise izinto futhi uzenzele ikhodi ngokuzenzekelayo.
Okokugcina uma unesifiso sokwazi okwengeziwe ngakho, ungabonisana isixhumanisi esilandelayo.