PERCEPTION

In the perception subsystem we have IMU, GPS, LiDAR, Sonar and Optical Flow Sensor as our onboard sensors. All the sensors are mounted on the quad-rotor.

IMU: The IMU board is the major sensor for the motion control subsystem and reports inertial mesurements to the control program. It integrates 3-axis gyros, 3-axis accelerometers, Barometric pressure sensor for altitude. It also has the interface for additional sensors.

GPS: We use MediaTek MT3329 GPS 10Hz+ as the onboard GPS. It has USB/UART Interface and the accuracy is smaller than 3 meters. For a better localization, we will use GPS combined with Optical Flow Sensor.

LiDAR: We use the URG-04LX-UG01 laser range-finder as the onboard laser sensor to detect the obstacles around the quad-rotor. It is relatively inexpensive, accurate and easy to use. This laser utilizes a USB 2.0 interface and has a field-of-view of 240°. Distances are reported from 20 mm to 5.6 m. In order to integrate the sensor with the microcontroller, we use a USB host shield that can USB Host capabilities to the Arduino platform.

Altitude Perception