FixedWingSurveyDrone

ProjectProposal

Students:
BenGorgan
DanielleJohnson

FacultyAdvisor:
Dr.JosephA.Driscoll

Date:
November,262013

ProjectSummary
Thisprojectwilldevelopanunmannedaerialsystem,commonlyreferredtoasadrone.
Thedronewillstartasacommerciallyavailableradiocontrolledairplane.Theadditionof
microcontrollers,cameras,andothersensorswillallowtheaircrafttooperate
autonomously.Thepurposeofthedroneistoperformaerialimagingsurveysof
userspecifiedregions,suchascropfields,foruseinprecisionfarmingapplications.An
importantfeatureofourdroneisitsautonomousnature.Theoperatorfirstdefinesthe
boundariesofthesurveyareaviaGPScoordinates.Next,thedroneishandlaunched
somewherenearthefield.Thedronedeterminesitslocation(viaGPS)andcalculatesa
navigationalrouteallowingittoimagetheentirearea.Thedronelandsinthelocationfrom
whichitwaslaunched,orsomeotheruserspecifiedlocation.Theimagesareassembled
intoasinglelargeimage,whichisthenemailedtotheuser,alongwithanotificationthat
thedroneisreadyforretrieval.

DetailedDescription
ThedronewillacceptGPS(globalpositioningsystem)coordinatesofauserselectedarea
ofland.Inthisway,aparticularregioncanbespecifiedforthedronetosurvey.Usingthat
data,itwillgenerateitsownroutetonavigatethefieldandcaptureGPSregisteredimages
oftheentirearea.Thedronewillbeentirelyautonomous,pilotingitselfonthe
selfgeneratedflightpath,withtheoptiontotakemanualcontrolatanytime.Itwillalsohave
theabilitytodetectobstacles(suchastowers)duringflight,andmaneuvertoavoidthose
obstacles.Whenthesurveyiscomplete,softwarewillassemblealloftheimagesithas
capturedintoasingle,highresolutionimageoftheentirearea.TheGPSdatastoredwith
eachimagewillallowtheimagestobeassembledintoasinglelargeimage.After
surveyingtheentirearea,theplanewilllandwhereitwaslaunched,oratanother
userspecified(viaGPS)location.Thedronewillcontainawirelessdatalinktoenable
internetaccessviaaconsumerwirelessnetwork.Afterlanding,thedronewillemailthe
userthatthesurveyiscompleteandthattheplaneisreadytobepickedup.Alinktothe
highresolutionimagewillalsobeincluded.
Thesurveydronewillhavethefollowingcomponents:
Readytofly,commercial,radiocontrolairplane(handlaunched,electrically
powered,servosandradioreceiverincluded)
Twodigitalcameras:oneforhighresolutionimagery,andanotherforobstacle
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avoidance
Twomicrocontrollers:oneforhighlevelautonomousbehaviorandimage
processing,andanotherforlowlevelsensormanagement
GPSReceiver
Aninertialmeasurementunit(IMU)containingthreeaccelerometers,three
gyroscopes,threemagnetometers,andabarometricsensor(foraltitude).
Datalinkmoduleusedforemailandothercommunications

Blockdiagramsandfunctionaldescriptions
Thefixedwingsurveydronehastwoprimarysubsystems.Thefirstistheautopilotsystem,
whichincludesthefrontfacingcamera,GPSreceiver,theIMU,andbothofthe
microcontrollers.Thesecondsubsystemprovidesimageprocessing.Thissystemutilizes
theBeagleBoneBlack(orequivalent)microcontroller,GPSreceiver,andimage
processingsoftwaretocapturealloftheimagesandtocreatethefinalcompleteimage.
Twoseparatemicrocontrollersarenecessaryforthetwotypesoffunctionalityrequiredon
thedrone.TheBeagleBoneBlack(BBB)isalinuxbasedmachineandexcelsin
multitasking,soitwillbeusedfortheoverallsystemcontrol.However,moreprecisetiming
isneededtoprocesstherealtimeresponsesfromtheIMUandothersensors.Tosustain
preciseflightcontrol,theplanemustreceiveaccuratesignals.AnAtmelATmegaseries(or
equivalent)microcontrollerhasveryprecisetimingandwillbeusedforthisfunction.The
twoseparatemicrocontrollerswillassureprecisecontroloftheaircraftwhilemaintaining
fastprocessingabilityfortheothersystems.

AutopilotSystem
Theautopilotsubsystem(seeFigure1)runsontheBBB,aLinuxbasedsingleboard
computer.ThedevelopedautopilotsoftwarewillbeloadedontotheBBBwherearoutefor
theaircraftwillbeautomaticallygeneratedbasedontheuserinput.Inputdatawillbesent
totheBBBtoprocessandestablishnavigationalwaypoints.Theaircraftwillfollowitsset
pathautonomously,drivenbytheautopilotsystem.Ifemergencyremotecontrolis
necessary,manualoperationcanbeenabledatanypointduringflight.AstandardR/C
transmitterwillinitiateasignaltotheBBBtoshutdown,andtheaircraftwillrespondonlyto
manualcontrol.Thetransmitterssignalswillmanipulatetheservosandelectronicspeed
controlontheaircrafttodirectflight.

Figure1.AutopilotBlockDiagram

Duringflight,thefrontfacingcamerawillallowobstacleavoidance,usingtechniquesfrom
computervisionsuchasopticalflowandpatternrecognition.Theautopilotsoftwarewill
automaticallyadjusttheflightpathtoavoidcollidingwiththeobjectandremainoncourse.
TheAtmelmicrocontrollerwillprocessinformationgatheredfromtheIMUandother
sensors,andcommunicatethatinformationtotheBBB.Thesoftwarewilladjusttheflight
pathbasedonthisdatatosustainstable,accurateflight.

ImageProcessingSystem
Figure2showsthedatacollectionanddeliveryprocess.Asthedronepassesoverthe
selectedarea,thedownfacingcamerawillcollectimagesthatcovertheentirearea.As
eachimageistaken,theBBBwillstorelocationdatafromtheGPSreceiver.These
imageswilllaterbeassembledintooneimageoftheentireuserselectedareabasedon
GPSlocation.Thiscamerawillalsohaveopticalfiltercapabilitiestoallowspecialized
imagingapplications.
4

AfteralltheGPSdataandimageshavebeenstoredintheBBB,theimageprocessing
softwarewillcreateasinglelargeimageofthesurveyedarea(orseveralimages,
dependingonhowmanyfilterswereused).ThisimagewillbetransferredtoaDronecell
GPRS(GeneralPacketRadioService)datalinkmodule(orequivalent),withcellphone
capabilitiesandinternetaccess.Thedatalinkmodulewillemailthefinalimage(s)tothe
operatorandprovidenotificationthattheaircraftcanberetrievedattheuserspecified
landingsite.

Figure2.ImageProcessingSoftwareandFinalImageDelivery

Schedule
Thetentativescheduleplanforeachweekisdescribedbelow,andrepresentedasaGantt
chartinFigure3Therewillbeplannedtimeforsimulation,testing,andpreparationforthe
finaloralpresentation.
Week1:ImageprocessingwithBeagleBoneBlack
Week2:ImageprocessingwithBeagleBoneBlackandGPStaggedimages
Week3:Autostitchsoftware
Week4:Obstacleavoidancesoftwareandsimulations
Week5:Beginaddingcomponentstotheaircraft
Week6:WaypointGenerationCode
Week7:TestFlight
Week8:Tweaknecessarycomponents
Week9:Workthroughanyremainingissues
Week10:Workthroughanyremainingissues
Week11:Createseniorprojectwebpage
Week12:Prepareforfinalpresentation
Week13:FinalPresentation

Figure3.GanttChartProjectCompletionScheduleinWeeks
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EquipmentList
BixlerAircraft
LiPoBattery
RCController
BeagleBoneBlack
Autopilot
Datatransferunit
Camera
ObstacleAvoidanceCamera

Received
Received
Received
Received
APM2.6withexternalcompassandexternalGPS
DroneCellGSMTelemetry
RaspberryPiNoIRCameraBoard
5MegapixelCameraModuleOV56421080pJPEG

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