fype report submission

A complete fyp report was written and submitted to my supervisor lecturer, Mr Ahmad Basri bin Zainal and also the library of UNIKL BMI. This completes the requirements of the fyp subject.

project presentation

The project is presented to assesors to provide marks for the fyp subject. The presentation was done at the Gemilang Hall in UNIKL British Malaysian Insitute.  Assesors include lecturers from the electronics department and also representatives from the industry.

functional test

 Functional test is done to test the functionality during general operation of the project system. During this stage testing is done without propellers to enable static experiment of the project. Changes are done to commands by manipulating the user interface. The reaction of the quad copter is observed through the speed rotation change of the quad copter. This can be measured roughly with the change of sound of the motors spinning. 

            A video is made for this process as an evidence of the functionality of the project. The project seems to be functioning as it was programmed to do so. 

radio signal testing (development)

After confirming the command signals reaching from the smartphone to the arduino uno through Bluetooth connection, now it is viable to proceed signal detection at the quad copter which is transported from the arduino through the rc module. The command signal was received by the arduino uno in serial data through the serial port. The data is then processed and encoded into a PPM signal. The RC module then decodes this signal and changes it into a PWM signal which is recognised by the APM flight controller board. Therefore testing is done to confirm correct signal transportation through all these stages.

The overall interaction and the commands that go through the system can be simulated with mission planner software. Set up is done by connecting the APM flight controller board to the laptop, and then everything is activated as normal operation, only that the propellers are taken off. This way all the input signals that are detected by the APM flight controller board are transferred to the mission planner software on the laptop to be analysed. The default main purpose of the mission planner software is to tweak the settings on the APM flight controller board which will decide how the firmware will react to the input and produce output from it. However this automatically produces simulation on the input signals which we can use for testing.

The function on the mission planner that we used for this testing is the radio calibration setup. This function provides visual representation of the command input received at the APM board’s input port which is connected to the receiver of the rc module. The testing is done by observing default radio input and then see the changes which occur due to application of command on the smartphone application.

Serial port testing (development)

The arduino software is used to write codings relevant to the project and then uploaded to the arduino hardware. Integrated to this software is a serial monitor which can be used to simulate the detected data which is transported through the serial port. We used Bluetooth to transfer data commands from the smartphone to the arduino uno board wich is fixed with a HC-05 bluetooth shield. And most importantly the data commands are transferred serially. Therefore we can use the serial monitor to confirm data commands transmission to the arduino uno so that we can know that this part of the system actually works.

building interconnect circuit (developement)

The interconnect circuit is responsible for transferring data from the smartphone to the quad copter. As the smartphone sends out data through Bluetooth, a Bluetooth module is required to receive the data. This data is then processed into a signal understood by the rc module. The rc module can only decode PPM signals fed into its input pin. Therefore a processor is needed to convert the serial data received from the Bluetooth module and encode it into a PPM signal. An arduino uno board is used since it is capable to connect easily with a Bluetooth module shield. It can also encode a PPM signal using its internal timer feature.

creating phone app (development)

The custom phone app is created using app inventor. Desired elements are arrange onto the screen and then functions are programmed using block programming. 

The first screen design contains an introductory page where the name of the subject, name of student, name of advisor and related information is written. This screen functions as a front page for the application

Screen 2 is designed as the main screen where the quad copter controller user interface is put together. The functions and buttons emulate a standard RC transmitter where commands are sent to manipulate the throttle, rudder, yaw and pitch of the quad copter. However additional buttons are integrated to control the sensitivity of the throttle control and also to set the flight modes of the quad copter. In addition to that another button is set to simulate arming sequence of the transmitter to the quad copter. Furthermore one more button is designated to start Bluetooth connection with the interconnect circuit.

Below are some of the examples of block programming

Doing tutorial for creating phone app (development)

Online tutorials are available on the app inventor website which provides step by step guide on creating multiple types of phone apps. All tutorials are studied to obtain basic understanding on the elements available and also recognizing correct programming techniques for manipulating of the elements applied for the phone app.

building quadcopter (developement)

The assembly process is done in an open space with available power source. All the tools required are prepared along together with the quad copter hardware. Basically the most important tool is a screwdriver with interchangeable head shape. This is to all securing screws of different shapes and sizes. Secondly a solder iron and its iron lead are used to secure certain cables with compatible connectors.

           The first installation process involves putting the frame together. The frame must be assembled accordingly to allow strategic placement of the electronic hardware.

The base of the frame is assembled while having the aluminium pillars arrange with the same colour side by side. This is to determine the front and the back side of the quad copter. Most of the parts are secured with screws and it is made sure that these screws are properly locked in to ensure secure assembly of the frame.

A frame with long landing gear is chosen to protect the hardware from damage if a rough landing were to happen. The aluminium pillars are identified to be long enough to fit 11 inch propellers that are going to be used. This is to avoid unwanted clashing between the propeller blades and other hardware.

A camera adapter is also available on the front side of the quad copter. This camera adapter allows easy and strategic installation of a wireless camera. If not required this camera adapter can be unattached to the frame rather easily.

            Some soldering needs to be done to fix suitable connectors to the lipo battery cables. These connectors will match the power harness. 

A power harness unit is installed at the middle of the base and is responsible to distribute power to all of the quad copter hardware. The power harness will be connected directly to the 14.8 volt lipo battery will provide parallel connection to all of the hardware. It is important that the cable and wires are connected correctly to avoid damage to the hardware, since a large amount of current flows within this power harness which is about 30A to each motor.

The electronic speed controllers are attached to each aluminium pillars and the connected to the power harness. These are strategic locations for the ESC since there will be a motor on each end of the pillars while also being close to the APM flight controller board to allow signal wire connections. These ESC are secured with zip tights to avoid them moving around during flight.

A power module is also attached to the power harness to provide safe power supply to the APM flight controller board. Any excess power load onto the board will fry the APM flight controller therefore this power module is used as protection to avoid that situation to happen.

The power harness is covered with different layers of plates and then the APM flight controller is placed on the top. Plastic screws are used to avoid conductivity to the electronics on the board. It is critical that the APM controller board to be placed precisely at the middle of the frame so that the controller can balance the quad copter properly during flight. The front arrow indicator is directed towards the yellow aluminium pillars to set them at the front side.

The brushless motors are secured firmly at each ends of the frame. Its wire cables are attached directly to the ESC. The yellow wire is the signal wire, red and black are the live and ground wires. Yellow wire from the motor must match with the yellow wire on the ESC. However red and black wires can be switched in the opposite way around if required. This will only effect the rotation direction of the motor. The correct way of installing the brushless motors are when each motor rotates in the direction which cancels out each other.

For safety reasons each motors are fixed to the frame with plastic screws. This allows it to the motors to break loose from the frame in case of accidents. The result of this is that the frame can be protected from serious damage during crash scenarios.

The propeller 11 inch propeller blade is secured on top of the motor according to its direction of rotation. This is to ensure that air is pushed downwards which gives lift to the quad copter. Incorrect installation of propellers will result the quad copter to be stamped towards the ground and will not fly.

Importantly, the propellers must be locked properly before flight. Any loose installation of the propellers will cause instant crash to the quad copter since the quad copter requires all of the propellers to be functioning perfectly for stable flight. 

The rc module and gps module is placed at the vacant areas of the quadcopter. These modules are sealed at their places with zip tights. Strategically the gps module the rc module is attached outside of the frame so signal transmissions can be received efficiently.

The gps module and the rc module do not require independent power supply input as they feed power from the APM flight controller board.

The assembly of the quad copter is completed by attaching the signal wires from the speed controllers and the rc module at the correct positions on the APM flight controller board.

The final stage of the quad copter development is to connect the APM flight controller to its software. The software is named APM flight planner. Prior to use of the quad copter its firmware must be updated first. Then the hardware on the board such as the accelerometer, gyrometer and its magnetic compass needs to be calibrated. Finally the input from the rc module is calibrated and setup for flight modes and fail safe are configurated. 

Other than that, each ESC also needs to be calibrated. This is to allow the speed controller command correct speeds to the motors with its corresponding signal input. Failing to calibrate the ESC will cause the motors to spin unevenly.

order purchase (developement)

In order to ensure that developement phase runs according to scheadule, required hardware items have been ordered and purchase. This process have been completed through the hobbyking company which has business franchises throughout the world. Its closest location is at Hongkong therefore delivery is done from there.

About rm 1700 worth of expenditure has been done due to date.

quad hardware = lithium polymer battery (research)

the quadcopter drone needs a power source to juice up the onboard electric equipment. A lipoly battery pack is used due to its high capacity and low weight. Calculation is made to predict the flight time available for the quadcopter with selected capacity of the battery. This needs to be balanced as a larger capacity means the battery need to be bigger and heavier. It is recommended by a technical expert that a 4 cell lipoly battery pack of 4500mah capacity to be used for the above quadcopter configuration.

quad hardware = body frame (research)

-          In order to allow flight control for the quadcopter, the body frame of the quadcopter must be as light as possible. The reason for this is to create enough thrust to weight ratio so that the flight controller has enough freedom to control the movements of the quadcopter through the motors. The best option is to use ready made frames which are constructed specifically for quadcopters using best lightweight material. The X605 frame made by glass fiber and aluminium is used to ensure strength and rigidity to the quadcopter while saving weight.

Arduino workshop (research)

I am going to program the control board on the quadcopter with arduino. Therefore when the BMI was going to oragnise a workshop on Arduino i was one of the first to show interest.

Eventually the workshop was conducted  at TTL1 and the modules covers the basics about Arduino based programming.

The Arduino UNO board was use for practical exercise. We also used a custom attachment for the board provided by the presenter, which gives access to LCD, buzzer and some other stuff.

quad hardware = electric motors & propellers (research)

-          Electronic motors are the main components of a quadcopter drone which creates thrust for the movements of the quadcopter. However it is very important to make sure the specifications of the motors and propellers are right for the custom built quadcopter. Basically the main requirement is to create total thrust for the quadcopter about 2 times its weight. Therefore the motors must be powerful enough to turn the selected size of propellers. In balance to that the motors must also use minimal power for this action to increase battery life. Below motors and propellers configuration is used for this project.

quad hardware = electronic speed controller (research)

This is a device which serve the brushless electric motors on the quadcopter. The quadcopter drone is a vehicle which is controlled by the individual speed of its four motors. Therefore delicate control of each of the motor speed is very critical. This speed controller device facilitates these concerns by having a voltage regulator to feed equal and constant electric power to the motors. The speed controller also receive PWM signals from the flight controller board and then process them and makes sure stable signals are sent to the motors so that the quadcopter drone will move as desired. This project utilises the Afro ESC 30A speed controller.

quad hardware = GPS module (research)

The GPS module is the device which connects itself to available satellites and receive information about its current location. This location information is then sent to the flight controller as input to process the movement controls for the quadcopter drone. The NEO-6M GPS module is used for this project.

quad hardware = flight controller circuit (research)

-          This is an electronic board complete with microprocessors, ram, sensors and other related components and acts as the main brain of the quadcopter. Inputs signals from the RC module and onboard sensors will be processed here and then suitable output PWM signals will be delivered to the motors of the quadcopter drone. For this project the HK Mega flight controller board is chosen to serve this purpose. This flight controller board is equipped with atmega microprocessors, gyrometer, accelerometer, magnetic compass  and pressure sensor to assist on doing flight control processing. The firmware used is Arducopter which is arduino based and have been developed excessively over the years. The codings of the firmware will be modified to suit the functions of this project. 

App inventor (research)

Creating an application on the android based smartphone device requires some kind of programming facility. It is decided for this project, the program App Inventor is used. This App inventor is a web based platform by Massachusetts Institute of technology which allows public users to make and bake their own application for their smartphone device. Basically this web interface provides relevant tools to create an application from scratch such as a main screen to decide how the application will look like. This initially empty screen is then filled out with buttons, links, interactive controls and etc. to provide interaction with user. The programming is for setting up everything together is done through block programming method. When everything is completed the created application can be uploaded straight to the smartphone device for testing. It is identified that there is a specific tool in the App inventor that specialized on making an application for robotic related integration.

The basic mainframe of the control application for this project is having joystick controls and buttons on the screen similar to the transmitter device. These joysticks and buttons can be operated through touch detection on the screen.  In addition to that the application should be able to detect inputs from the accelerometer when tilting the device. This motion detection will then be used for controlling the drone. Finally, the application will have Bluetooth connection mechanism so that the smartphone will be connected to a corresponding Bluetooth module while running the application.

RC module (research)

Finding a compatible RC module for this project. Most RC modules are single way where only intruction digital signals are sent from the transmitter to the reciever.

However out quadcopter needs a feedback signal from the quadcopter to utilise its gps function. Therefore the RC module must be 2 way.

After some investigation, the frysky DF RC module seems to fit the project requirements. It has a forward 8 channel digital signal transmitter which feedbacks in serial signal.

quadcopter discussion on popular mechanics magazine (research)

i have stumbled apon an article discussing about quadcopter on the popular mechanics magazine. the discussions are mostly about the air traffic regulations in the US regarding quadcopters. Other than that was some news updates about the implementation of quadcopter technology.