gps-denied-onboard/_docs/02_document/deployment/deployment_procedures.md

Deployment Procedures

Deployment Targets

Target	Purpose
Replay environment	Development and CI fixtures
Plane SITL	MAVLink/failsafe validation
Jetson companion computer	Production runtime and release gating
Representative flight/replay rig	Final acceptance evidence

Pre-Deployment Checklist

• Camera lens, resolution, FPS, sensor dimensions, and operating temperature are manufacturer-verified.
• Camera intrinsics/extrinsics are calibrated and versioned.
• BASALT, OpenCV, FAISS, LightGlue, DINOv2/ONNX/TensorRT dependencies are pinned.
• TensorRT/ONNX descriptor-fidelity tests pass before optimized engines are used.
• Satellite cache manifests and sidecars validate signatures, hashes, freshness, and resolution.
• Plane SITL validates GPS_INPUT behavior with production parameters.
• Jetson latency, memory, and thermal release gates pass.
• FDR rollover test passes.

Deployment Steps

1. Install JetPack-compatible runtime dependencies on the companion computer.
2. Install/build BASALT and native vision dependencies.
3. Pre-build any ONNX/TensorRT engines accepted by fidelity tests.
4. Sync mission cache from Satellite Service before flight.
5. Validate cache manifest, descriptors, signatures, resolution, and freshness.
6. Start the onboard service and verify FC telemetry connection.
7. Run cold-start first-fix check.
8. Confirm QGroundControl status and FDR segment creation.

Health Checks

Check	Pass Condition
Camera input	Frames received with expected resolution/rate
FC telemetry	IMU/attitude/altitude/GPS-health stream healthy
Cache	Manifest and descriptor index valid
First fix	Valid GPS_INPUT <30 s p95 in cold-start test
Resource health	Memory <8 GB, no thermal throttle
QGC status	Status visible at configured downsample rate
FDR	Segment open and writable

Rollback

• If runtime dependency update fails tests, revert to previous pinned build.
• If cache manifest validation fails, reject the mission cache and resync/rebuild before flight.
• If optimized engine fidelity fails, fall back to PyTorch/ONNX path that passed descriptor tests.
• If BASALT candidate fails representative replay gates, evaluate Kimera backup or custom fallback tasks before production deployment.

Post-Flight Procedure

1. Stop the onboard service cleanly.
2. Export FDR summary and integrity hashes.
3. Package generated tiles with sidecars and manifest delta.
4. Upload generated tile package to Satellite Service when connectivity is available.
5. Archive release evidence: tlogs, FDR summary, cache validation report, test results.

Deployment Blockers

• ADTi camera spec mismatch unresolved for FPS/resolution/lens/temperature.
• Missing representative synchronized nav-camera + FC telemetry + ground truth for final acceptance.
• Any false-position safety budget failure.
• Any cache-poisoning gate failure.
• Any Plane SITL GPS_INPUT failure.
• Thermal throttling during the 8-hour target workload.