Design of an Autonomous Quadcopter

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kapseong Ro

Overview

Introduction

Objective

Components

MATLAB Simulation

Assembly

Software

Flight test video

Introduction / Background

Aerial vehicle that uses four rotors to lift and control its motion

Utilizes differential thrust about two pairs of counterrotating, fixed-pitch propellers to maneuver

Small size, low cost enabled them to be used in a variety of applications such as exploration, rescue, recreational and military uses.

Objectives

Build and develop a control system of a quadcopter

Experience hands-on hardware and software integration

Study the challenges related to stability and control

FramePLA Properties

Physical

Density (1.11 – 1.21) kg/m^3

Mechanical

Young’s modulus (2.3 – 2.6) Gpa

Specific stiffness (1.96 – 2.27) e6 N.m/kg

Yield strength (98 – 200) MPa

Impact 15 – 20%

Processing

Polymer extrusion Acceptable

Durability

Water Acceptable

UV radiation Good

Flammability Highly flammable

Price 3.37 – 4.14 USD/kg

Recycling

Recycle Good

CO2 footprint 1.04 -1.15

Landfill Good

Biodegrade Good

Component Selection

Item ID Material Mass [kg]

Frame - PLA Plastic 0.15

Motor Emax ECO Series 2207 Steel 0.035

Propeller HQProp Polycarbonate 0.007

Battery RDQ Series Li-po 0.104

ESC Emax BLHeli Series - 0.024

Arduino Uno - 0.028

3-axis accelerometer MPU 6050 - 0

Receiver Spektrum AR620 - 0.004

Total - - 0.5500

Simulation

Dynamics

Control

Reference Frames

State vector

POSITION VELOCITY

ORIENTATION ANGULAR VELOCITY

Equations

Linear momentum conservation

Angular momentum conservation

Dc motor differential equation

𝑎 = 1𝑚∗'𝐹

𝑇 = 𝐾 ∗ 𝜔𝑝2

𝐾 =𝐾𝑣𝐾𝜏%2𝜌𝐴

𝐾𝑡

Linear Momentum

𝜔 =1𝐼∗'𝑀̇

𝜏𝜃 = �̅�𝐾 ∗ [(𝜔12 + 𝜔42) − (𝜔22 + 𝜔32)]

𝜏𝜑 = 𝑦5𝐾 ∗ [(𝜔32 + 𝜔42) − (𝜔12 + 𝜔22)]

Angular Momentum

Roll

Pitch

𝜏𝜃 = �̅�𝐾 ∗ [(𝜔12 + 𝜔42) − (𝜔22 + 𝜔32)]

𝜏𝜑 = 𝑦5𝐾 ∗ [(𝜔32 + 𝜔42) − (𝜔12 + 𝜔22)]

Yaw

𝜏𝜓 = 𝑏 ∗ (𝜔22 − 𝜔12 + 𝜔42 − 𝜔32)

DC motor Electrical-Mechanical differential equation

Control

Roll Pitch Yaw

Proportional gain 1.0 1.300 4.50

Integral gain 0.04 0.04 0.02

Derivative gain 7.56 18 14.4

Response

Assembly

Software Setup• Calibrate gyro, accelerometer, ESC, throttle, sticks (1000-

2000 μs)

• Declare gains for the PID controller

Main Loop

• Attitude inputs are filtered to reduce noise.• 96% gyro, 4% accelerometer.• Uses PID controller to calculate the system response to the

error (center – actual).• The ESC pulses are calculated based on these inputs.

Flight Test• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYFmZU9bEJI

Questions?