INTERIM PROGRESS REPORT

REVIEW II

on

Environment Monitoring Using Autonomous Quadcopter

Submitted by
Devangshu Mitra (RA1411004010071)
Atul A. Singh (RA1411004010105)
Rishab Munjal (RA1411004010134)

Semester – VIII
Academic Year: 2018–19

Under the supervision of

Dr. P Eswaran
Asst. Prof. (S.G), Department of ECE

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

Faculty of Engineering and Technology ,
SRM Institute of Science and Technology
SRM Nagar, Kattankulathur – 603203, Kancheepuram District, Tamilnadu.

FEB 2018
 BONAFIDE

Certified that this project titled ‘Environment Monitoring Using

Autonomous Quadcopter’ is a bonafide work of Devangshu Mitra,
Atul A. Singh and Rishab Munjal of SRM University Kattankulathur
under the supervision of Dr. P. Eswaran.
 ABSTRACT

Our project aims to address the need to have autonomous standalone systems that
can be used for monitoring the environment. The advantage of an autonomous
drone is that such a drone is completely self sufficient and can be used to do tasks
for which either the cost of labour is high or the operational environment is
hazardous. In an attempt to keep costs down, a quadcopter based platform will be
used. Nowadays pollution is becoming a big challenge, especially in big cities. To
learn about pollution levels, environment monitoring is done.
Currently monitoring is done by technicians who collect samples and test them.
In view of the huge computation power available to day(viz Data Science)
computers can do analysis of a large amount of data(eg data from sensors) and
yield results quicker than conventional methods.
Our proposed solution involves designing an autonomous quadcopter for pollution
monitoring. This system is cheaper as it requires almost no operator cost. The data
can be analysed at the ground station itself and inferences made.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our guide, Dr.P. Eswaran, his
valuable guidance, consistent encouragement, personal caring, timely help and a
providing us with an excellent atmosphere for doing research. All through the
work, in spite of his busy schedule, he has extended cheerful and cordial support to
us for completing this research work.
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Quadcopter Block Diagram

Figure 2: Pixhawk Flight Controller
Figure 3: ESC
Figure 4: RC Reciever
Figure 5: DHT11
Figure 6: MQ135
Figure 7: DSM 501A
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract iii
Acknowledgement iv
List Of Figures v

Chapter 1: Literary Review

Chapter 2: Methodology
Chapter 3: Hardware Description
Chapter 4: Software Description
Chapter 5: System Model Description
Calculations

Interim Progress Report Evaluation Rubrics

 Chapter 1
Literary Review

[1] Md R Haque, M Muhammad, D Swarnaker.,“Autonomous Quadcopter for

product home delivery”, Electrical Engineering and Information and
Communication Technology (ICEEICT), pp. 1–5 (2014).

[2] G. V´as´arhelyi, Cs. Vir´agh, G. Somorjai, N. Tarcai, T. Sz¨or´enyi, T.

Nepusz, T.Vicsek., Outdoor flocking and formation flight with autonomous aerial
robots., Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2014), pp. 1-8, 2014.

[3] Eric Chirtel, Richard Knoll, Christina Le Bridget Mason, Gregory C

Lewin.,“Designing a Spatially Aware, Autonomous Quadcopter Using the
Android Control Sensor System”, IEEE Systems and Information Engineering
Design Symposium, pp. 35-40, 2015.

[4] Gordon Ononiwu, James Onojo, James Onojo.”Design and implementation of

a real time wireless quadcopter for rescue operations”, American Journal of
Engineering Research (AJER)Volume5, Issue-9, pp-130-138.

[5] Vishakh Duggal, Mohak Sukhwani, Kumar Bipin.,“Plantation Monitoring and

Yield Estimation using Autonomous Quadcopter for Precision Agriculture”,IEEE
International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).,pp1063- 1070
2016.
 Chapter 2
Methodology

The quadcopter is a self contained system and uses sensors to monitor the
environment. The flight controller is used to send preliminary flight commands to
the motors. The drone is configured using Mission Planner software and Pixhawk
Flight controller. The specifications of the sensors attached to our drone are as
follows:

Sensors:

• DHT 11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor

• Supply Voltage 5V
• Temperature Range 0-50 C with error ± 2 C
• Humidity 20 - 90 % RH ± 5 % er
• Interface- Digital
• Weight - 10 grams

• MQ135 Gas Sensor

• Supply Voltage- 5V
• Gases Detected- NH3,NOx, alcohol, Benzene,CO2
• Weight- 7 gms

• DSM 501A Dust Sensor

• Supply Voltage - 5V
• Minimum particle size - 1um
• Weight - 26gms
 Chapter 3
HARDWARE DESCRIPTION

1. Sensors
• Temperature and Humidity sensor(DHT-11).
• Dust sensor(DSM-501A).
• Gas sensor(MQ-135)

2. Flight Controller
• Pixhawk 2.4.8

3. Peripherals
• GPS sensor
• Receiver module
• Telemetry module
• Power Module
• PWM Encoder

4. Other Hardware
• Frame(450 mm)
• Brushless DC motors
• Electronic Speed Controllers
• Propellers(12 inch) • Battery(5500 mAh)
 Chapter 4
SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION

1. For RC receiver Testing

• t6config

2. For Documentation
• Protext
• Microsoft Power Point
• Microsoft Word

3. For Mission Planing and Calibration

• APM Mission Planner
 Chapter 5
SYSTEM MODEL DESCRIPTION

Fig. 1 Quadcopter Block Diagram

The quadcopter consists of the following major components.

1. Flight Controller
The flight controller performs all the calculations pertaining to the orientation and
direction of the quadcopter. It is responsible for sending signals to the motors via
the ESCs. It consists of the following components
• GPS Sensor- For position estimation and autonomous flight.
• Barometer - For height estimation.
• Compass - For direction estimation.
• Accelerometer and Gyroscope- For estimation of orientation.
 Fig. 2 Pixhawk Flight Controller

2. Motors and ESCs

The motors produce the thrust necessary to lift the quadcopter above the ground.
• The motors used are brushless motors. These motors provide high power with
low weight.
• Electronic Speed Controllers are circuits which regulate the speed of the motors.
They are directly controlled by the flight controller.
 Fig. 3 Electronic Speed Controller (ESC)

3. Communication
For communicating with the ground station, the quadcopter uses the following
hardware:
• RC Receiver- The receiver being used operates at 24Ghz and has six channels.
• Telemetry kit- Operates at 433 Mhz. Used to update pose of the quadcopter in
real time. Operates on MAVlink protocol.

Fig. 4 RC Reciever
4. Sensors
The following sensors are used to collect data from the environment.
4.1 DHT 11
• It measures temperature and humidity.
• It requires a supply voltage of 5V
• Temperature Range = 0-50◦C error ±2 ◦C
• Humidity = 20-90 % RH ±5% RH error • Interface = Digital • Weight = 10 gms

Fig. 5 DHT 11

4.2 MQ-135
• This sensor measures gas levels.
• It requires a supply voltage of 5V • Gases Detected = NH3, NOx, Benzene, CO2
• Weight = 7 gms

Fig. 6 MQ135
4.3 DSM-501A
• This sensor measures dust levels.
• It requires a supply voltage of 5V.
• Minimum particle size = 1um
• Weight = 26 gms 5

Fig 7. DSM 501A

 Calculations
The propeller thrust equation is:
c1 * RPM * (d^3 .5)/√ P * c2 * RPM * P
where c1 = 4.392 × 10^-8 and c2 = 0.00042333333.

For a 1045 propeller and a 1400 kV motor at 5V

RPM = 1400 × 5 = 7000

Substituting in formula we get

c1 * 7000 * 10^3*5/(√4.5) * c2 * 7000 * P
Force = mass × acceleration
acceleration = 9.8m/s2 solving for mass, mass = 623 g

For a 1245 propeller and a 1400 kV motor at 5V

RPM = 1400 × 5 = 7000
Substituting in formula we get
c1 × 7000 × 123 √ .5 4.5 × c2 × 7000 × P
Force = mass × acceleration acceleration = 9.8m/s^2 solving for mass,
mass = 1.179 kg

For a 1245 propeller and a 1400 kV motor at 11.5V

RPM = 1400 × 11.5 = 16100
Substituting in formula we get
c1 * 16100 * (12^3)*5/(√ 4.5) * c2 * 16100 * P
Force = mass × acceleration acceleration = 9.8m/s2 solving for mass, mass =
6.23889 g