This article presents a software layer to abstract users of unmanned aerial vehicles from the specific hardware of the platform and the autopilot interfaces. The main objective of our unmanned aerial vehicle abstraction layer (UAL) is to simplify the development and testing of higher-level algorithms in aerial robotics by trying to standardize and simplify the interfaces with the unmanned aerial vehicles. Unmanned aerial vehicle abstraction layer supports operation with PX4 and DJI autopilots (among others), which are current leading manufacturers. Besides, unmanned aerial vehicle abstraction layer can work seamlessly with simulated or real platforms and it provides calls to issue standard commands such as taking off, landing or pose, and velocity controls. Even though unmanned aerial vehicle abstraction layer is under continuous development, a stable version is available for public use. We showcase the use of unmanned aerial vehicle abstraction layer with a set of applications coming from several European research projects, where different academic and industrial entities have adopted unmanned aerial vehicle abstraction layer as a common development framework.

中文翻译：

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无人机抽象层：操作无人机的抽象层

本文提出了一个软件层，从平台的特定硬件和自动驾驶仪接口中抽象出无人机的用户。我们的无人机抽象层 (UAL) 的主要目标是通过尝试标准化和简化与无人机的接口来简化空中机器人高级算法的开发和测试。无人机抽象层支持与 PX4 和 DJI 自动驾驶仪（等）的操作，这些都是当前领先的制造商。此外，无人机抽象层可以与模拟或真实平台无缝工作，并提供发出标准命令的调用，例如起飞、着陆或姿势以及速度控制。尽管无人机抽象层正在不断发展，一个稳定版本可供公众使用。我们展示了无人机抽象层的使用以及来自几个欧洲研究项目的一组应用程序，其中不同的学术和工业实体已采用无人机抽象层作为通用开发框架。