Ascend Engineering is a specialist software engineering consultancy serving the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) industry. We provide a comprehensive suite of development services for government and commercial clients looking to take advantage of state-of-the-art drone technology and bring their operations to the next level.
Our team of experts is dedicated to providing the highest quality drone software solutions for projects of any size or scope, allowing customers to seamlessly integrate themselves into the UAV market no matter the application or requirements.
PX4 & ROS Autopilot & Flight Control Software Engineering
We are experts in PX4 and ROS (Robotics Operating System), and can fine-tune their powerful capabilities to create customized autopilot software to suit your specific requirements for any UAV platform, including multirotor, fixed-wing and unmanned helicopter. We can seamlessly integrate additional functionality such as collision avoidance, custom flight modes, and emergency procedures, and can also create custom MAVlink protocol messages for bespoke communications needs.
Other possibilities include:
- Modifications to drivers, modules, system commands etc
- Bug fixes
- Control allocation configuration
- Rate, attitude & position tuning
- UAV mode parameter configurations
Onboard Compute Integration & Software Development
We can integrate a wide variety of onboard processing hardware into your UAV airframe, including ModalAI’s VOXL 2, VOXL Flight and VOXL 2 Mini platforms, providing your aircraft with powerful edge computing capabilities and ensuring seamless operation with all onboard systems.
We can also develop bespoke onboard software to handle any mission requirements that you desire, including sensor and payload data analysis, autonomous behaviours, redundant communications, and much more.
AI Capabilities
Utilizing the ModalAI VOXL2, VOXL2 Mini, and VOXL-Flight flight control hardware, we can equip your drones with cutting-edge AI and machine learning capabilities for autonomous navigation, collision avoidance, image and video analysis and more. We have extensive experience with all ModalAI hardware and software products, and worked closely with the company to help create their SDKs (software development kit).
Sensor, Payload & Datalink Integration
We can integrate any sensor or payload you can think of into your drone platform, and create bespoke software solutions to ensure seamless functionality and any additional capabilities you need. We can also install a wide range of communications and data links, enabling reliable connectivity at any range from VLOS to BVLOS.
Possibilities include:
- RGB and infrared cameras and gimbals
- LiDAR scanners
- Tethered drone systems
- ADS-B and Remote ID
- Actuators and grippers
- Radios from DTC, Doodle Labs and Microhard
- Herelink
- 4G & 5G cellular communications
Custom Ground Control Stations
We can set up and customize your ground control station (GCS) hardware and software, with capabilities including:
- Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) integration
- QGroundControl (QGC) modifications & integration
- Windows and Linux-based GCS software development
Testing & Simulation
We can provide end-to-end testing services for your UAV platform and subsystems in both the laboratory and the field, ensuring your aircraft’s success under real-world mission conditions. We also have extensive experience with using the Gazebo platform to create and simulate UAV and environmental models, and to undertake software-in-the-loop (SITL) testing.
