Microprocessor-Controlled Aerial Robotics Team

May15-28

ECpE Department
The Problem

System-Level Diagram

Testing

Previous quadcopter contains black box components

Environment
Coover 3050 Lab, OptiTrack IR Camera System

Quadcopter has no further room for development

Procedure
1.Function and unit test each component

System has slow feedback response

Solution
Build a new quadcopter with
Programmable board and peripheral ports

2.Test output signals from components using oscilloscope

3.Find latencies or bottlenecks, if any

On-board sensor and feedback control

4.System verify component by observing functionality while

quadcopter is in motion

On-board signal mixing for motors

Resources
Total Budget: $3000

Intended users
Co-operative autonomous robotics research and undergraduate classes teaching controls or embedded systems

Total team hours: 1218.5

Average hours per team member: 152.3

Quadcopter Body (Structure)

Batteries & Regulators (Power)

Motors & ESCs (Thrust)

The core frame of the quadcopter that is sturdy and is

Needed to power the quadcopter motors, processing board,

Responsible for generating thrust and allowing the

able to carry all peripherals, sensors, and actuators

and peripherals

quadcopter to fly

Constraints
Must maintain lightweight load
Balanced center of gravity

Safety
The quadcopter has to be capable of taking a fall while
not damaging any of the on-board equipment
Product
DJI Flamewheel F450

Speed
ESCs operate at 450Hz

Voltage Restrictions
Main processing board requires input voltage from 4.5-5.5V

Motors able to get up to 10,000rpm

Custom Regulators
Drop down voltage

Propellers

Prevent over discharging and reverse polarity

Several types made out of plastic or carbon fiber

Indicate when batteries reach low limits

Balanced propellers reduce vibration and noise

Products
Hyperion 11.1V 3-cell LiPo Batteries

Products
DJI 30A OPTO ESCs
DJI Brushless Motors

Sensor Board (Sensing)

Zybo Board (Computing)

Measures gyro, accelerometer, and magnetometer data

Collects measurements from sensors

Specs
2
Uses I C protocol up to 400kHz

Calculates controller corrections

Mixes signals for the four motors

1kHz accelerometer and 8kHz gyro sample rates

Outputs pulse width modulations (PWMs) to ESCs

Digital low-pass filters for reducing noise

Expandability:
The board has a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)

Challenges:
Connection issues between the sensor

and multiple peripheral ports to program

and the Zybo board caused the quad to

Product:
Diligent ZYBO - Zynq 7000

lock up in early stages of development

Product:
SparkFun 9 Degrees of Freedom - MPU-9150

Development Board

Bluetooth (Communication)

PID Controllers (Controls)

Software (Logging)

Receives control commands

Adjusts flight commands to compensate for error

Sends sensor and calculated data from the quad

Calculates error using ideal and measured position or speed

Communication Protocol
Operates at 921,6000 baud rate
Uses minimal data packets to increase throughput

On-board Tuning
Bluetooth was essential during the control tuning process by
receiving commands to change coefficients or setpoints
Product
PmodBT2 (RN-42) - Bluetooth Interface

Feedback Control Loop

Setpoint
Angle

K p e (t )

M '

K p e (t )

4.Visualize data after each flight

Output

de (t )
dt

Complementary
Filter

M ,

Sensor
Measurements

Details
Uses an inner (speed) and outer

2 PIDs/axis = 6 total PIDs on board

Dr. Nicola Elia

3.Create logs of data received from quad

(position) PID for better stability

Client & Faculty Advisors

Dr. Phillip Jones

2.Send commands or external data to the quadcopter

Flight Command

+
Kd

Ground Station Flow

1.Establish communication with the quadcopter

Tools
Bash scripts, C/C++, MATLAB, QT library

Team Members
Joe Benedict
Jacob Rigdon

Adam Campbell
Ravindra Nagaraju

Paul Gerver
Matt Post

Tyler Kurtz
Matt Vitale