-
Project Report on
WIRELESS CONTROL QUADCOPTER
by
Ayush Gautam (1109732032)
Mukul Kapoor (1109732067)
Prateek Gautam (1109732076)
Submitted to the Department of Electronics and Instrumentation
Engineering
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Bachelor of Technology
in
Electronics and Instrumentation
Under the guidance of
Ms. Kriti
Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology
U.P.T.U
April , 2015
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATE
.............................................................................................................................
5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
............................................................................................................
6
ABSTRACT
....................................................................................................................................
7
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
......................................................................................................
8
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
............................................................................................
9-14
1.1 Background of the Problem
........................................................................................
10
1.2 Objective of the project work
......................................................................................
11
1.3 Methodology Adopted for the project
........................................................................
12
1.4 Organization of the report
...........................................................................................
14
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
..............................................................................
15-18
2.1 Literature Review For The Project
............................................................................
15
2.2 Project scope in existing work
.....................................................................................
18
CHAPTER 3 QUADCOPTER
.............................................................................................
19-41
3.1 Block diagram of quad-copter
....................................................................................
20
3.2 Block diagram of transmitter
......................................................................................
21
3.3 Block diagram of Receiver End
..................................................................................
22
3.4 Components of quad-copter
........................................................................................
24
3.5 Flight control
................................................................................................................
35
3.6 Application of quad-copter
..........................................................................................
39
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3.7 Advantages of Quad-copters
.......................................................................................
40
CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE
.......................................................... 42
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF MICROCONTROLLER
..............................................................
43
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF WIRELESS CONTROLLER
...................................................... 44
APPENDIX A ACCEPTANCE OF PAPER PUBLISHED
.................................................... 45
APPENDIX B BIOGRAPHY OF STUDENT
..........................................................................
47
REFERENCES
............................................................................................................................
53
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Flow Chart of Quad-copter design
................................................................................
12
Figure 2. Result of 3-DOF attitude control
..................................................................................
15
Figure 3. Altitude control of Quad-copter
....................................................................................
16
Figure 4. de Bothezat helicopter
...................................................................................................
17
Figure 5. Quad-copter designs
......................................................................................................
19
Figure 6. Block diagram of quad-copter
.......................................................................................
20
Figure 7. Block diagram of transmitter
.........................................................................................
21
Figure 8. Block diagram of receiver end
......................................................................................
22
Figure 9. Flight control mechanism
..............................................................................................
23
Figure 10. Motor to motor distance
..............................................................................................
25
Figure 11. Brushless
Motor..........................................................................................................
26
Figure 12. Motor Used in quad-copter
..........................................................................................
27
Figure 13. Battery used in our quad-copter
..................................................................................
28
Figure 14. Electronic speed controller (ESC)
...............................................................................
29
Figure 15. Propeller
......................................................................................................................
30
Figure 16. Radio transmitter and
receiver.....................................................................................
31
Figure 17. Flight controller used in the
project.............................................................................
32
Figure 18. Microcontroller used in project
...................................................................................
35
Figure 19. Flight control
...............................................................................................................
36
Figure 20. Different motions of quad-copter
................................................................................
37
Figure 21. Applications of quad-copter
........................................................................................
41
Figure 22. Circuit Diagram of Microcontroller
............................................................................
43
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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Project Report entitled WIRELESS CONTROL
QUADCOPTER which
is submitted by AYUSH GAUTAM, MUKUL KAPOOR and PRATEEK GAUTAM in
partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree B. Tech.
in Department of Electronics and
Instrumentation of U.P. Technical University, is a record of the
candidate own work carried out
by him under my/our supervision. The matter embodied in this
thesis is original and has not been
submitted for the award of any other degree.
(Name & signature of Supervisor) (Name & signature of
Project Coordinator)
(Name & signature of Project Incharge) (Name & signature
of HOD)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It gives us a great sense of pleasure to present the report of
the B. Tech Project undertaken during B.
Tech. Final Year. We owe special debt of gratitude to our
supervisor or project guide Ms. KRITI,
Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering,
Galgotias College of Engineering &
Technology for her constant support and guidance throughout the
course of our work. Her sincerity,
thoroughness and perseverance have been a constant source of
inspiration for us. It is only her cognizant
efforts that our endeavors have seen light of the day.
Our deep sense of gratitude is accorded to Associate Professor
& Head Dr. Praveen Maduri, Head, and
Department of EIE for his constant official support,
encouragement and motivation for our project work.
We wish to express our sincere thanks to our Project Incharge Ms
Jaspreet Kaur, Mr Hridesh Verma, Mr
Manjit Singh and Mr Gulshan Kumar Dubey for the enthusiasm they
transmitted, for their competence, as
well as for the richness of their guidelines and invaluable
suggestions throughout the project.
We also do not like to miss the opportunity to acknowledge the
contribution of all faculty members and
lab-Instructors of the department for their kind assistance and
cooperation during the development of our
project. Last but not the least, we acknowledge our friends for
their contribution in the completion of the
project.
Signature with date Signature with date
[AYUSH GAUTAM, 119732032] [MUKUL KAPOOR, 119732064]
Signature with date
[PRATEEK GAUTAM, 119732076]
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ABSTRACT
This research focused on a remotely operated Quad copter system.
The Quad copter is controlled
through graphical user interface (GUI). Communication between
GUI and Quad copter is done
by using wireless communication system. All signals from sensors
are processed by PIC
microcontroller board. Output from PIC microcontroller board
used to control Quad copter
propellers. The experiment shows that Quad copter can hover with
maintain its balancing and
stability. They are called rotorcrafts because unlike a fixed
wing aircraft, here lift is generated by
narrow chord aero foils. They are the mixture of streams of
mechanical, electronics and
especially aviation.
Keywords- Quad copter, Quad rotor, GUI, Rotorcrafts.
Quad copters is an aerial vehicle operated to fly independently
and is one of the
representations of a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). They are
controlled by pilots on ground
or simultaneously driven. They are called rotorcrafts because
unlike a fixed wing aircraft, here
lift is generated by a set of revolving narrow-chord aero foils.
Control of motion of
vehicle is achieved by altering the rotation rate of one or
motor discs, thereby changing
its torque load and thrust/lift characteristics. The use of four
rotors in a quad copter allow
the individual rotors to have a smaller diameter than the
equivalent helicopter rotor,
which allows them to possess less kinetic energy during
flight.
Quad copters have different structures and designs according to
the work needed to be
Done by it. Components like motors, batteries, electronic speed
controllers (ESC s) also vary
according to the power needed and work done by the quad
copter.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
PWM Pulse width modulation
RC Remote Control
UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
VTOL Vertical takeoff and landing
DOF Degree of Freedom
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Quad copter, also known as quad rotor, is a helicopter with four
rotors. The rotors are directed
upwards and they are placed in a square formation with equal
distance from the center of mass of
the quad copter. The quad copter is controlled by adjusting the
angular velocities of the rotors
which are spun by electric motors. Quad-copter is a typical
design for small unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAV) because of the simple structure. Quad copters are
used in surveillance, search
and rescue, construction inspections and several other
applications the particular interest of the
research community in the quad-rotors design can be linked to
two main advantages over
comparable vertical take o and landing (VTOL) UAVs, such as
helicopters.
Early in the history of flight, quad-copter (referred to as
'quad-rotor') configurations were seen
as possible solutions to some of the persistent problems in
vertical flight; torque-induced control
issues (as well as efficiency issues originating from the tail
rotor, which generates no useful lift)
can be eliminated by counter-rotation and the relatively short
blades are much easier to construct.
A number of manned designs appeared in the 1920s and 1930s.
These vehicles were among the
first successful heavier-than-air vertical take-off and landing
(VTOL) vehicles.
The Netra is an Indian, light-weight autonomous UAV for
surveillance and reconnaissance
operations. It has been jointly developed by the DEFENCE
RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION'S RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
ESTABLISHMENT (R&DE), and IDEAFORGE, a Mumbai-based private
firm. The UAV was
featured in the hit movie 3 Idiots.
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1.1 Background of the Problem
The idea of quad-copters is due to many problems faced even in
day-to-day routine. Some of the
problems faced are as per below:
1) Avalanche in the mountains:
While avalanches are sudden, the warning signs are always there
before the snow starts sliding.
Avalanches kill more than 150 people worldwide each year. Most
are snowmobilers, skiers, and
snowboarders. So quad-copters are used for keeping an eye of
sudden avalanche and rescuing the
humane life.
2) Surveillance
Quad-copters have been used as unmanned aerial vehicles for
reconnaissance and surveillance by
several law enforcement agencies and military. Not only that,
but their ability to carry decent
payloads make them ideal choice for recreational fliers, as
users can attach cameras for first
person views or aerial photography. This allows the users to fly
these multi-rotors as if they are
sitting inside the craft like a pilot.
3) Aerial imagery
The most common commercial use of quad-rotors is in the field of
aerial imagery. Previously,
full-sized helicopters were used for stationary aerial imagery.
However, in recent times quad-
rotor drones have successfully replaced helicopters due to their
huge cost savings and
autonomous nature. The process of capturing aerial imagery with
a quad-rotor is highly simple.
Therefore, it is used in various commercial environments ranging
from industrial systems
inspection to real estate photography.
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1.2 Objective of the project work
The control system of conventional helicopter is complex as
compared to the proposed quad-
copter control system.
The objectives of this project are:
i. To design quad-copter that can control be controlled via
remote control (RC)
ii. To design quad-copter for stable flight control which is
controlled by PIC micro-controller
iii. To create an autonomous system that increases situational
awareness of security personnel
by providing them with a birds-eye view.
iv. To make a quad rotor assembly that can hover and perform
certain pre-defined maneuvers
and can lift weight up to 1 kg. These maneuvers will be
controlled by an onboard
microcontroller. The microcontroller will drive the motors using
Pulse Width Modulation
(PWM).
v. The project introduces an alternate and simple rotor assembly
system for conventional load
carrying helicopters.
vi. Besides, in the proposed design every rotor plays a role in
direction control and balance of
the quad-copter as well as lift, unlike the traditional single
rotor helicopter designs in
which each rotor has a specific task - lift or directional
control - but never both.
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1.3 Methodology Adopted for the project
The methodology for the project can be better understood by
dividing into two phases. The first
phase is understanding the quad-copter structure and it basic
mathematical modeling. The second
phase deals with design and construction of the quad-copter. It
will be built by splitting the
design into different component whereby each component will be
tested to ensure its working
properly. This step is to minimize the risk of accidents which
will lead to increasing number of
component cost.
i. Flow chart
Designs of quad-copter are divided into two stages that is part
design in first stage and full
interface at second stage. Flow chart of quad-copter design is
described in Figure below:
Figure 1. Flow Chart of Quad-copter design
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ii. Quad-copter movement mechanism
Quad-copter can described as a small vehicle with four
propellers attached to rotor located at the
cross frame. This aim for fixed pitch rotors are used to control
the vehicle motion. The speeds of
these four rotors are independent. By independent, pitch, roll
and yaw attitude of the vehicle can
be control easily.
iii. Take-off and landing motion mechanism
Take-off is movement of quad-copter that lift up from ground to
hover position and landing
position is versa of take-off position. Take-off (landing)
motion is control by increasing
(decreasing) speed of four rotors simultaneously which means
changing the vertical motion.
iv. Hovering or static position
The hovering or static position of quad-copter is done by two
pairs of rotors are rotating in
clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively with same speed. By
two rotors rotating in
clockwise and counter-clockwise position, the total sum of
reaction torque is zero and this
allowed quad-copter in hovering position.
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1.4 Organization of the report
The quad-copter report is organized as per below:
i. The idea behind the development of quad-copter has been
described
ii. The background of the problems faced which lead to
development of quad-copter has
been described
iii. The purpose and objective of the quad-copter has been
defined
iv. Then, the methodology adopted for the creating the
quad-copter has been described
briefly.
v. The literature for the development of quad-copter has been
researched and review as per
early developments done in the same field.
vi. After research of literature and the development of the
quad-copter further, scopes left
in the project are listed.
vii. Now, the design of quad-copter will be defined using block
of transmitter, block
diagram of receiver and components of quad-copter
viii. Then flight control process has been described
ix. In brief the application of quad-copter has been
enlisted
x. Few advantages of quad-copter has been enlisted
xi. Then conclusion and future scope of quad-copter has been
conversed
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Literature Review For The Project
In order to run Wireless Control Quad-copter with Self Balancing
System research, several
theoretical and techniques needed to be reviewed through
previous related research report. The
review includes the technology development and control method
that are used in Quad-copter.
Park et.al. (2001) studied on the 3-DOF attitude control
free-flying vehicle. The characteristic to
be heavily coupled with inputs and outputs, and the serious
nonlinearity appear in the flying
vehicle and due to this non-linear control, multi variable
control or optimal control for the
attitude control of flying Quad copter. This research result is
illustrated in Figure
Figure 2. Result of 3-DOF attitude control
Ashfaq Ahmad Mian et.al. (2007) developed of nonlinear model and
nonlinear control strategy
for a 6-DOF Quad copter aerial robot. The nonlinear model of
Quad copter aerial robot is based
on Newton-Euler formalism. Model derivation comprises
determining equations of motion of the
Quad copter in three dimensions and seeking to approximate
actuation forces through modelling
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of the aerodynamic coefficients and electric motor dynamics. The
respective of the applied
control is described in Figure below
Figure 3. Altitude control of Quad-copter
The Netra is a lightweight UAV, constructed of carbon fiber
composites, that uses quad-
copters to provide lift and control giving a VTOL capability. It
has no moving parts other than
the rotors, motors and transmissions, and hence it requires very
low maintenance. The use of
carbon-fiber has resulted in a light weight of 1.5 kg (3 lb.),
which makes the Netra very
portable a backpack case allows operators to carry the system to
field locations to serve as the
base station. It also contains the power supply, military-grade
controller, hand-held operator
console and the communication systems.
Dr. George de Bothezat and Ivan Jerome developed this aircraft,
with six bladed rotors at the end
of an X-shaped structure. Two small propellers with variable
pitch were used for thrust and yaw
control. The vehicle used collective pitch control. Built by the
US Air Service, it made its first
flight in October 1922. About 100 flights were made by the end
of 1923. The highest it ever
reached was about 5 m (16 ft 5 in). Although demonstrating
feasibility, it was underpowered,
unresponsive, mechanically complex and susceptible to
reliability problems. Pilot workload was
too high during hover to attempt lateral motion
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Figure 4. de Bothezat helicopter
Since as early as 1920, multi-copter vehicles have been
designed, built, and used to experiment
with aerial vehicle designs. The quad-rotor or quad-copter
design is one example of the many
prototypes produced. This particular design uses four identical
rotors mounted symmetrically;
the result is a very stable flight platform. The goal of this
project is to use the stable aerial Quad-
copter design for practical uses.
Etienne Oehmichen experimented with rotorcraft designs in the
1920s. Among the six designs he
tried, his helicopter No.2 had four rotors and eight propellers,
all driven by a single engine. The
Oehmichen No.2 used a steel-tube frame, with two-bladed rotors
at the ends of the four arms.
The angle of these blades could be varied by warping. Five of
the propellers, spinning in the
horizontal plane, stabilized the machine laterally. Another
propeller was mounted at the nose for
steering. The remaining pair of propellers were for forward
propulsion. The aircraft exhibited a
considerable degree of stability and controllability for its
time, and made more than a thousand
test flights during the middle 1920s. By 1923 it was able to
remain airborne for several minutes
at a time, and on April 14, 1924 it established the first-ever
FAI distance record for helicopters of
360 m (390 yd). It demonstrated the ability to complete a
circular course and and later, it
completed the first 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) closed-circuit flight
by a rotorcraft.
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2.2 Project scope in existing work
The quad-copter project aims to make specific advances in three
major research areas:
User-centered Human Machine Interface and Training
Automation
Socio-technological assessment.
The University of Nebraskas NIMBUS Lab has developed unmanned
quad-copters that
can fly around and wirelessly transmit power to devices.
Ostensibly these have the rather
unromantic purpose of recharging remote sensors weather
stations, highway
monitoring/messaging systems, and other similar, unattended
electronic devices but it
also means that, in the future, you might be able to call out a
quad-copter to recharge your
mobile phone.
Optional components such as GPS (Global Positioning System)
modules, cameras,
ultrasonic sensors, barometers (barometric pressure sensors)
etc. can be considered. They
enhance the performance of the quad-copter, and add value to its
uses. GPS modules
communicate to satellites and retrieve accurate relevant
information. This information can
be used to calculate speed and path. It is very useful for
autonomous quad-copters that
need to know its exact position and which direction to fly.
An ultrasonic sensor measures the distance to the ground or the
altitude. It is of great use if
the quad-copter has to maintain a certain distance from the
ground without adjusting the
height. Most of these sensors have a range of between 20cm to
7m.It needs to be mounted
at the bottom of the quad-copter. The barometer measures
humidity and pressure and
works best at high altitudes. The best altitude combination will
be to use both an
Ultrasonic sensor and a Barometric pressure sensor at the same
time.
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CHAPTER 3
QUADCOPTER
Figure 5. Quad-copter designs
A quad-copter, also called a quad-rotor helicopter or quad-rotor
is a multi-rotor helicopter that is
lifted and propelled by four rotors. Quad-copters are classified
as rotorcraft, as opposed to fixed-
wing aircraft, because their lift is generated by a set of
rotors (vertically oriented propellers).
Unlike most helicopters, quad-copters use two sets of identical
fixed pitched propellers; two
clockwise (CW) and two counter-clockwise (CCW). These use
variation of RPM to control lift
and torque. Control of vehicle motion is achieved by altering
the rotation rate of one or more
rotor discs, thereby changing its torque load and thrust/lift
characteristics.
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3.1 Block diagram of quad-copter
Figure 6. Block diagram of quad-copter
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3.2 Block diagram of transmitter
Figure 7. Block diagram of transmitter
keypad RF encoder
433 MHz RF transmitter
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3.3 Block diagram of Receiver End
Figure 8. Block diagram of receiver end
433 MH
RF DECODER
Motor3
Motor4
PIC
MOTOR DRIVER
Motor 2 Motor 1
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Figure 9. Flight control mechanism
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3.4 Components of quad-copter
The main components used for construction of a quad-copter are
the frame, propellers (either
fixed-pitch or variable-pitch), and the electric motors. For
best performance and simplest control
algorithms, the motors and propellers should be placed
equidistant. Recently, carbon fiber
composites have become popular due to their light weight and
structural stiffness. The electrical
components needed to construct a working quad-copter are similar
to those needed for a modern
RC helicopter, which include the electronic speed control
module, on-board computer or
controller board, and battery.
The components are elaborately described as follows:
i. Frame:
It is the structure that holds or houses all the components
together. They are designed to be
strong and lightweight. To decide the appropriate frame for the
copter 3 factors, i.e. weight, size
and materials used are considered. The frame should be rigid and
able to minimize the
vibrations from the motors. It consists of 2-3 parts which are
not necessarily of the same
material:
The center plate where the electronics are mounted
four arms mounted to the center plate
four motor brackets connecting the motors to the end of the
arms
Strong, light and sensible configuration including a built-in
power distribution board (PDB) that
allows for a clean and easy build is highly recommended. Parts
and accessories that are 100%
compatible and interchangeable are always preferred.
Frames are usually made of:
Carbon Fiber
Carbon fiber is the most rigid and vibration absorbent but it is
the most expensive too.
Aluminum
Hollow aluminum square rails are the most popular for the arms
due to its light weight,
rigidness and affordability. However aluminum can suffer from
motor vibrations, as the
damping effect is not as good as carbon fiber. In cases of
severe vibration problem, it could
mess up sensor readings.
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Wood/ Plywood /MDF (Medium-density fiberboard)
Wood boards like MDF plates could be used for the arms as they
are better at absorbing the
vibrations than aluminum. Unfortunately the wood is not a very
rigid material and can
break easily if the quad-copter crashes.
For the center plate, plywood is most commonly used because of
its light weight, easy to work
factor and good vibration absorbing features. As for arm length,
motor-to-motor distance is
sometimes used, meaning the distance between the centers of one
motor to that of another motor
of the same arm. The motor to motor distance usually depends on
the diameter of the propellers
in order to have enough space between the propellers.
Figure 10. Motor to motor distance
ii. Rotors or Motors :
The purpose of motors is to spin the propellers. Brushless DC
motors provide the necessary
thrust to propel the craft. Each rotor needs to be controlled
separately by a speed controller.
They are a bit similar to normal DC motors in the way that coils
and magnets are used to drive
the shaft. Though the brushless motors do not have a brush on
the shaft which takes care of
switching the power direction in the coils, and thats why they
are called brushless. Instead the
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brushless motors have three coils on the inner (center) of the
motor, which is fixed to the
mounting.
Figure 11. Brushless Motor
On the outer side, it contains a number of magnets mounted to a
cylinder that is attached to the
rotating shaft. So the coils are fixed which means wires can go
directly to them and therefore
there is no need for a brush. Brushless motors spin in much
higher speed and use less power at
the same speed than DC motors. Also they dont lose power in the
brush-transition like the DC
motors do, so its more energy efficient. The KV
(kilovolts)-rating in a motor indicates how
many RPMs (Revolutions per minute) the motor will do if provided
with x-number of volts. The
higher the kV rating is, faster the motor spins at a constant
voltage. Usually out runners are used
brushless motors used for model planes and copters.
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Figure 12. Motor Used in quad-copter
Generally brushless motors spin in much higher speed and use
less power at the same speed than
DC motors. Also brushless motors dont lose power in the
brush-transition like the DC motors
do, so its more energy efficient.
Brushless motors come in many different varieties, where the
size and the current consumption
differ. When selecting your brushless motor you should take care
of the weight, the size, which
kind of propeller you are going to use, so everything matches up
with the current
consumption. When looking for the brushless motors you should
notice the specifications,
especially the Kv-rating.
The Kv-rating indicates how many RPMs (Revolutions per minute)
the motor will do if provided
with x-number of volts. The RPMs can be calculated in this way:
RPM= Kv*U An easy way to
calculate rating of motor you need.
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iii. Battery or power source
LiPo (Lithium Polymer) batteries are used because it is light.
NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) is
also possible. They are cheaper, butt heavier than LiPo. LiPo
batteries also have a C rating and a
power rating in mAh (which stands for milliamps per hour). The C
rating describes the rate at
which power can be drawn from the battery, and the power rating
describes how much power the
battery can supply. Larger batteries weigh more so there is
always a tradeoff between flight
duration and total weight.
Figure 13. Battery used in our quad-copter
A good rule of thumb is that you with four EPP1045 propellers
and four Kv=1000 rated motor
will get the number of minutes of full throttle flight time as
the same number of amp-hours in
your battery capacity. This means that if you have a 4000mAh
battery, you will get around 4
minutes of full throttle flight time though with a 1KG total
weight you will get around 16
minutes of hover.
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iv. Electronic Speed controller (ESC)
The electronic speed controller controls the speed of the motor
or tells the motors how fast to
spin at a given time. For a quad-copter, ESCs are needed, one
connected to each motor. The
ESCs are then connected directly to the battery through either a
wiring harness or power
distribution board. Many ESCs come with a built in battery
eliminator circuit (BEC), which
allows to power things like the flight control board and radio
receiver without connecting them
directly to the battery. Because the motors on a quad-copter
must all spin at precise speeds to
achieve accurate flight, the ESC is very important. This
firmware in a ESC changes the refresh
rate of the ESC so the motors get many more instructions per
second from the ESC, thus have
greater control over the quad-copters behavior. The frequency of
the signals also vary a lot, but
for a quad-copter it is preferred if the controller supports
high enough frequency signal, so the
motor speed can be adjusted quick enough for optimal
stability.
Figure 14. Electronic speed controller (ESC)
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v. Propellers
A quad-copter has four propellers, two normal propellers that
spin counterclockwise, and two
pusher propellers that spin clockwise to avoid body spinning. By
making the propeller pairs
spin in each direction, but also having opposite tilting, all of
them will provide lifting thrust
without spinning in the same direction. This makes it possible
for the copter to stabilize the yaw
rotation, which is the rotation around itself. The propellers
come in different diameters and
pitches (tilting effect). The larger diameter and pitch is, the
more thrust the propeller can
generate. It also requires more power to drive it, but it will
be able to lift more weight. When
using high RPM (Revolutions per minute) motors, the smaller or
mid-sized propellers. When
using low RPM motors the larger propellers can be used as there
could be trouble with the small
ones not being able to lift the quad-copter at low speed.
Figure 15. Propeller
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vi. Radio Transmitter and Receiver :
The radio transmitter and receiver allows to control the
quad-copter. Four channels for a basic
quad-copter is required .Using a radio with 8 channels, so there
is more flexibility is
recommended. Quad-copters can be programmed and controlled in
many different ways but the
most common ones are by RC transmitter in either Rate
(acrobatic) or Stable mode. The
difference is the way the controller board interprets the
orientations feedback together with the
RC transmitter joysticks. This is useful when the quad-copter is
required to do stunts like tilting
it a bit to the right. The speed of the 4 motors will be
adjusted automatically and constantly to
keep the quad-copter balanced.
Figure 16. Radio transmitter and receiver
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vii. Flight controller
The flight control board is regarded as the brain of the
quad-copter. Flight control boards
range from simple to highly complex. An affordable, easy to set
up, having a strong
functionality controller is always recommended. Such controllers
can handle about any type of
multi-rotor aircraft so if even we want to upgrade to a hex
copter or experiment with a tricopter,
we need not purchase another board.
Figure 17. Flight controller used in the project
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viii. Microcontroller
PIC16F877 belongs to a class of 8-bit microcontrollers of RISC
architecture. It has 8kb flash
memory for storing a written program. Since memory made in FLASH
technology can be
programmed and cleared more than once, it makes this
microcontroller suitable for device
development. IT has data memory that needs to be saved when
there is no supply. It is usually
used for storing important data that must not be lost if power
supply suddenly stops. For
instance, one such data is an assigned temperature in
temperature regulators. If during a loss of
power supply this data was lost, we would have to make the
adjustment once again upon return
of supply.
RISC architecture
Only 35 instructions to learn
All single-cycle instructions except branches
Operating frequency 0-20 MHz
Precision internal oscillator
o Factory calibrated
o Software selectable frequency range of 8MHz to 31KHz
Power supply voltage 2.0-5.5V
o Consumption: 220uA (2.0V, 4MHz), 11uA (2.0 V, 32 KHz) 50nA
(stand-by
mode)
Power-Saving Sleep Mode
Brown-out Reset (BOR) with software control option
35 input/output pins
o High current source/sink for direct LED drive
o software and individually programmable pull-up resistor
o Interrupt-on-Change pin
8K ROM memory in FLASH technology
o Chip can be reprogrammed up to 100.000 times
In-Circuit Serial Programming Option
o Chip can be programmed even embedded in the target device
256 bytes EEPROM memory
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o Data can be written more than 1.000.000 times
368 bytes RAM memory
A/D converter:
o 14-channels
o 10-bit resolution
3 independent timers/counters
Watch-dog timer
Analogue comparator module with
o Two analogue comparators
o Fixed voltage reference (0.6V)
o Programmable on-chip voltage reference
PWM output steering control
Eight level deep hardware stack
Power-on Reset (POR)
Power-up Timer (PWRT) and
Oscillator Start-up Timer (OST)
Programmable code protection
Watchdog Timer (WDT) with its own on-chip RC oscillator for
reliable operation
Direct, indirect and relative addressing modes
Interrupt capability (up to 14 sources)
Enhanced USART module
o Supports RS-485, RS-232 and LIN2.0
o Auto-Baud Detect
Master Synchronous Serial Port (MSSP)
o supports SPI and I2C mode
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Figure 18. Microcontroller used in project
3.5 Flight control
The flight control in quad-copters work is based on the
principle that each rotor produces
thrust and torque about its center of rotation, as well as a
drag opposite to the vehicle's
direction of flight. If all rotors spin at the same angular
velocity, with rotors marked 1 and 3
rotating clockwise and rotors marked 2 and 4 counterclockwise,
the net aerodynamic torque, and
subsequently the angular acceleration about the yaw axis, is
exactly zero, which implies that the
yaw stabilizing rotor of conventional helicopters is not needed.
Yaw is induced by mismatching
the balance in aerodynamic torques (i.e., by offsetting the
cumulative thrust commands between
the counter-rotating blade pairs).
The 4 rotors aligned take the shape of a square, two on opposite
sides of the square rotate in
clockwise direction and the other two rotate in the opposite
direction. If all rotors turn in the
same direction, the craft would spin just like the regular
helicopter without the tail rotor. Yaw is
induced by unbalanced aerodynamic torques. The aerodynamic
torque of the first rotors pair
cancelled out with the torque created by the second pair which
rotates in the opposite direction.
Hence if all four rotors apply equal thrust the quad-copter will
stay in the same direction.
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Figure 19. Flight control
For balance, the quad-copter should continuously take the
required measurements from the
sensors, and make alterations to the speed of each rotor to
maintain the body level. These
adjustments usually are done automatically by a sophisticated
control system on the quad copter
in order to stay perfectly balanced. A quad copter has four
controllable degrees of freedom,
namely: Yaw, Roll, Pitch, and Altitude.
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Figure 20. Different motions of quad-copter
For hovering a balance of forces is needed. If we want the
quad-copter to hover, SUM(Fi) must
be equal mg. To move the quad-copter climb/decline the speed of
every motor is
increased/decreased.
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Figure 20: Hovering motion
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3.6 Application of quad-copter
Quad-copters have variety of applications in the field of
research, military and many more.
Quad-copter designs have become a cynosure as to most research
fields as they are an important
concept of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). They use an electronic
control system and electronic
sensors to stabilize the aircraft. Their small size and agile
maneuverability prove a great strength
to these quad-copters and they can be flown indoors as well as
outdoors.
Some of their applications include:
1) 3-D Mapping
Small and lightweight drones help in surveying large landscapes
with thousands of digital
images that can be stitched together into a string of 3-D maps.
Though military and
other government satellites produce similar maps, but the
stupendous outcomes of UAV
technology outshines them repeatedly.
2) Search and Rescue
Drones are a widespread application to rescue patients during
injury or any calamity, manmade
or natural. Drones have the ability to help assist, locate and
save victims, faster with more
efficiency than any other option. There are campaign missions to
provide a string
product line of Search and Rescue (SAR) drones. Advanced
technology is used to create
drones that can reach people in small spaces and supply food,
water and medicine to
trapped victims. Many advances like water-resistance, high
definition GPS tracker and
cameras in quad-copters prove a great benefactor especially in
the search and rescue aim.
3) Farming
In agriculture technology helps in great precision to monitor
fields, increase yields and also save
money. Moreover, drones also help precise applications of
pesticides, water, or fertilizers by
identifying exactly where such resources are needed and
delivering them there too. Cameras
in drones are able to spot nitrogen levels (low or high) or
watch the growth of a particular
section. Infrared light cameras inform about plant health by
measuring the efficiency of
photosynthesis in various plants. These infrared cameras also
detect which land is suitable for
appropriate growth of which plant.
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3.7 Advantages of Quad-copters
The main merit of quad-copters and similar unmanned aerial
vehicles is their small size, due to
which they could traverse in narrow conditions.
The use of drones has tremendously grown in a short span of time
owing to the long
flying time in contrast to the manned aircrafts. Without a human
pilot, drones can operate for
significantly longer without fatigue than airplanes. Moreover,
drone operators can easily hand
off controls of a drone without any operational downtime. They
are remote controlled, so
no danger will be there to the crew. They contain a whole lot of
widespread applications, in
day to day lives, domestic purposes and national to
international purposes.
Some more of their advantages include:
i. Does not require mechanical linkages to change the pitch
angle at the blade as it spins.
ii. Four small rotors have smaller diameter than one large
helicopter rotor.
iii. Takes less damage to rotors.
iv. No need for a tail rotor which generates no lift.
v. Easier to build four small blades compared to large one.
vi. Due to ease in construction and control, they are used in
amateur model aircrafts
project.
vii. They can traverse through difficult terrains because of
their small size and there is less
risk of damage too.
viii. They can save lives. They greatly reduce putting military
manpower in combat (in
harm).
ix. They are significantly cheaper and the cost in fuel and
maintenance is way lower than
regular airplanes.
x. Quad-copters are smaller and are able to fly lower than
traditional airplanes and the risk
level to military hardware is comparatively low.
xi. Drones increase surveillance, reconnaissance, and general
military intelligence.
xii. Drones contain more pinpoint precision and accuracy from
larger distances, which in
turn reduce the collateral damage to civilians and
infrastructure.
xiii. Drones are easier and faster to deploy than most
alternative
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Figure 21. Applications of quad-copter
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CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE
Drones will soon take on be an imperative existence in the
coming future. They will be
seen taking up larger roles for a variety of jobs including
business in the immediate future They
could become a part of our daily lives, from smallest details
like delivering groceries to
changing the way farmers manage their crops to revolutionizing
private security, or
maybe even aerial advertising. Today, quad copters are capturing
news video, recording
vacation travel logs, filming movies, providing disaster relief,
surveying real estate and
delivering packages.
They are categorized according to their corresponding uses. Some
are for military purposes
provided with missiles and bombs, some for surveillance and
reconnaissance purposes.
Agriculture is predicted to be the dominant market for UAV
operations. In Japan drones
are flown for the past 20 years. Lot of the farmlands over there
are on steep hillsides, and those
vehicles can treat an acre in five minutes which is very
difficult or even impossible to do
so with a tractor.
The innumerable advantages of drones lead to their growth in a
short span of time.
They have a few demerits but those can be rectified. Today most
drones are controlled by
either software or other computer programs. The components of a
drone also vary based on
what type of work needs to be done and how much payload needs to
be carried.
Out runners, batteries, electronic speed controllers all come in
different ranges according
to the type of work needed to be done by the Quad copters are a
great provisional craft that
could get in between airplanes and helicopters and are hence
easier to fly all the time.
Beside real-time 3Dflight, such as inverted flight, quad copters
give a more acrobatic feel to
its flyers. Quad copters offers to be a great balance between
cost , capability, and
performance. The only problem is when funds are coupled with
highly ambitious projects. A
solution for this could be to gradually improvise on inventing
quad copters with new
enhancements and new designs. Hence quad copters have an
exemplarily bright future.
The onus lies upon us whether we productively use it or
destructively use it.
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CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF MICROCONTROLLER
Figure 22. Circuit Diagram of Microcontroller
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CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF WIRELESS CONTROLLER
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APPENDIX A
ACCEPTANCE OF PAPER PUBLISHED
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APPENDIX B
BIOGRAPHY OF STUDENT
I am student of Galgoatia College of engineering and technology,
pursuing Bachelor of
technology in Electronics and Instrumentation for the session
2011-2015. My interests include
reading and exploring new technologies. I am avid follower of
new emergencies in the
technology. I started working on quad-copter project due my
inquisitiveness for this subject area.
There are many areas wherein human interference can be reduced
and proper utilization of
technology can be performed. Also there are many terrains
wherein human interference is just
not possible. For such reasons, a quad copter can be of great
help. Along with this I prefer
travelling and knowing new places and people.
AYUSH GAUTAM
Roll No 1109732032
Session 2011-15
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RESEARCH PAPER
WIRELESS CONTROL QUADCOPTER SELF-BALANCING SYSTEM
Ms.Kriti1, Ayush Gautam2, Prateek Gautam3, Mukul Kapoor4
1Assistant Professor
2Student
Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology, Gr .Noida
[email protected]
[email protected] [email protected]
ABSTRACT: This research focused on a remotely operated Quad
copter system.
The Quad copter is controlled through
graphical user interface (GUI).
Communication between GUI and Quad
copter is done by using wireless
communication system. All signals from
sensors are processed by PIC
microcontroller board. Output from PIC
microcontroller board used to control
Quad copter propellers.
The experiment shows that Quad copter
can hover with maintain its balancing and
stability. They are called rotorcrafts
because unlike a fixed wing aircraft, here
lift is generated by narrow chord aero
foils. They are the mixture of streams of
mechanical, electronics and especially
aviation .
Keywords- Quadcopter, QuadRotor,GUI,
Rotorcrafts.
I. INTRODUCTION
Quad copter, also known as quad rotor, is a
helicopter with four rotors. The rotors are
directed upwards and they are placed in a
square formation with equal distance from
the center of mass of the quad copter. The
quad copter is controlled by adjusting the
angular velocities of the rotors which are
spun by electric motors. Quadcopter is a
typical design for small unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAV) because of the simple
structure. quad copters are used in
surveillance, search and rescue, construction
inspections and several other applications.
Quadcopter has received considerable
attention from researchers as the complex
Phenomena of the quad copter has generated
several areas of interest. The basic
dynamical model of the quad copter is the
starting point for all of the studies but more
complex aerodynamic properties has been
introduced as well. Different control
methods has been researched, including PID
controllers . Control methods require
accurate information from the position and
attitude measurements performed with a
gyroscope , an accelerometer, and other
measuring devices, such as GPS, and sonar
and laser sensors . The purpose of this paper
is to present the basics of quad copter
modeling and control as to form a basis for
further research and development in the
area. This is pursued with two aims. The
first aim is to study the mathematical model
of the quad copter dynamics. The second
aim is to develop proper methods for
stabilization and trajectory control of the
quad copter. The challenge in controlling a
quad copter is that the quad copter has six
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degrees of freedom but there are only four
control inputs.
II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
The quad rotor helicopter used in this
project is a Draganyer X-Pro (X-Pro). It
differs from traditional helicopters regarding
the design as it has 4 horizontal rotors and
no vertical rotors. Traditional helicopters
can adjust the angle of the rotor blades as
well in order to control the helicopter, but on
the X-Pro the blades have a static angle. The
only variable that can be adjusted in right is
the rotational speed of the rotors.
The reason for this is to aid the development
of a model and controllers for the X-Pro,
without the risk of flying into the wall. This
will of course give reduce the movements of
the X-Pro.
Fig.1 Whole structure of rotations in quadcopter
The Design
The X-Pro consists of a base in the center
and 4 arms equally spaced in a shape of a
cross. The motors are mounted on the end of
the arms and connected to the rotors using 1
to 10 gearing. The base of the X-Pro is the
joint between the 4 arms and contains a
battery and the remote control (R/C)
electronics. The basic structure of the X-Pro
can be seen in figure. The X-pro has two
motors working in the same direction in ths
case 4 and 2 rotating anticlockwise whereas,
the other two motors 1 and 3 rotated in
opposite direction to the other motors that is
4 and 2 making the X-pro rotates stable and
vigorous!
III.TECHNIQUE USED
A Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Signal is
a method for generating an analog signal
using a digital source. A PWM signal
consists of two main components that define
its behavior: a duty cycle and a frequency.
The duty cycle describes the amount of time
the signal is in a high (on) state as a
percentage of the total time of it takes to
complete one cycle. The frequency
determines how fast the PWM completes a
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cycle (i.e. 1000 Hz would be 1000 cycles
per second), and therefore how fast it
switches between high and low states.
Technique used in the movement of the
quad copter is PWM(Pulse Width
Modulation ) . pulse-duration
modulation (PWM), it is a technique used
to encode a message into a pulsing signal. It
is a type of modulation. Although this
modulation technique can be used to encode
information for transmission, its main use is
to allow the control of the power supplied to
electrical devices, especially to inertial loads
such as motors. In addition, PWM is one of
the two principal algorithms used
in photovoltaic solar battery chargers, The
PWM switching frequency has to be much
higher than what would affect the load (the
device that uses the power), which is to say
that the resultant waveform perceived by the
load must be as smooth as possible .The
major advantage of using PWM in the
quadcopter is that power loss in the
switching devices is very low. When a
switch is off there is practically no current,
and when it is on and power is being
transferred to the load, there is almost no
voltage drop across the switch. Power loss,
being the product of voltage and current, is
thus in both cases close to zero. PWM also
works well with digital controls, which,
because of their on/off nature, can easily set
the needed duty cycle. PWM can be used to
control the amount of power delivered to a
load without incurring the losses that would
result from linear power delivery by
resistive means.
IV .CONCLUSION
While the initial goal of creating an
autonomous quadcopter capable of sensing
obstacles was not reached in ten weeks, our
group still learned a substantial amount
about robot design, fabrication, control, and
arduino programming. We used the spring
test rig to determine the motor and propeller
thrust for various PWM signals. We used
this information for quadcopter frame down
selection and control. We learned important
soldering and electric system fabrication
skills including making a power harness and
digital to analog motor control. Our group
all became proficient arduino programmers
by necessity as it was the most complex part
and required a group effort. In these ten
weeks we succeeded in stabilizing the
quadcopter in two degrees of freedom. The
end of the project is bittersweet. We are
proud of our accomplishments, but wish that
there were more time to improve the
quadcopter. With another ten weeks we
would further fine tune the stability and add
code to handle yaw and translation in the
XYZ-axes
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CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF MICROCONTROLLER USED
IN THE QUAD COPTER
The circuit shows how the PIC microcontroller is used to control
the electronic speed
controllers(ESCs) which control the speed of the motor which in
turn controls speed of the
propellers of the quad copter.
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CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF THE WIRELESS
CONTROLLER
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REFERENCES
References & websites were used as a medium to obtain
information for this project:
1. http://blog.oscarliang.net/types-of-multicopter/ - Posted on
Oct. 25 2013.
2.
http://blog.oscarliang.net/build-a-quadcopter-beginners-tutorial-1/-
Posted on June 25
2013.
3. http://blog.tkjelectronics.dk/2012/03/quadcopters-how-to-get
started/#battery Posted on
March 27 2012.
4.
http://www.fox42kptm.com/story/27451289/imagination-tv-partners-withdrones-to-the-
rescue-to-provide-emergency-situation-relief - Posted on
November 21 2014.
5. www.slideshare.net
6. http://www.philforhumanity.com/Drones.html
7. www.farmingdrones.com
8. www.abcnews.com
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