Drone/UAV/RPAS Software Failures
This is the second of our two part blog looking at why drones sometimes wrong. This time we’re looking at software.
Whether a drones costs £50 or £50,000, it contains software and occasionally that software can go wrong. Unlike hardware, where the failures are mostly random, software failures are systematic. A systematic failure is one that will happen time and time again provided the same set of conditions are met. It is not uncommon for software bugs to lay dormant for years or even go undiscovered just because the set of conditions required to make reveal that bug isn’t met.
We like to think that our drones have gone through thorough testing mechanisms and procedures before it gets to your doorstep or the shop shelf but if that’s the case then why do manufacturers release software upgrades so often? Companies may frequently release software updates for ‘new features’ but next time you click upgrade of your drone, computer, mobile phone etc have a read of the release notes, more often than not you will find they include multiple bug fixes that you probably didn't even know were there!.
Just like hardware failures there are a lot of things you can do to ensure software failures don’t cause a safety incident:
1. Test - whenever you get a software updates always test your device in a safe environment. Exercise all controls, combinations of controls and flying modes. Test the safety features and the extremes of the GPS constraints. Test return to home in different scenarios e.g. if it has a safe climb height test it above and below this height. The key to the testing is coverage of all possible scenarios you might exhibit when using the drone in public.
2. Configuration Control - it’s important to write down and record what software versions you are running. Each component will have different software versions some of which may be incompatible with each other. By recording the software versions when the aircraft is in a known working state you can quickly and easily revert back should you feel uncomfortable with how the drone is performing.
3. Review Release Notes - before you click ‘upgrade’ review the release notes.If the bug fixes and features introduced are not applicable to your operation the you might consider not performing the upgrade. Each software release comes with the risk of introducing new bugs and so it might be safer to just keep on the version you are on.
4. Report Bugs - Finally if you do discover a bug, REPORT IT. Report to the manufacturer, so they can fix it, the distributor so they can warn customers and finally report it to your fellow operators online. When reporting it it’s useful to include as much detail as possible, where were you, what were you doing, height, flying mode, what happened etc the more detail the better!
Please feel free to comment and note this is a very basic introduction to the concept of failure theory in software and the post is aimed at drone operators and clients for information. If you wish to know more information then please get in touch directly.
Visit our website to see what services we offer and what we do to ensure our aircraft are safe.