Autonomous Navigation of Flying robots

Abstract

Drone is considered a luxurious hobby, with high air-frame and flight controller cost. This project investigates a cost effective alternative to develop an autonomous flight controller using Arduino. A flight controller is a combination of hardware and software that helps controls the flight, it comprises of a circuit board that reads and process sensors data. Here, we explore Arduino and its sketch to build a cost effective telemetry communication to support an existing flight controller, the Naza-M v2. The flight controller is the stabilizer that detects orientation change to automatically balance the Quadcopter in the air, while the Arduino processes the communication data for telemetry for user to send autonomous commands from the ground control station. This project researches the limitations and potentials of using Arduino as a part of a flight controller, may it be as the main component or as an additional component that support an existing flight controller.

INTRODUCTION

The study of Autonomous Navigation of flying robots is the research area selected for the duration of the internship at the Centre of Innovative Engineering (CIE) in Universiti Teknologi Brunei. Supervised by Dr Somnuk, the project is the self operation of drone, specifically a Quadcopter that can automatically navigate itself without the use of a remote control. Due to the nature of the main flight controller used in this project, an Arduino equipped with a wireless transceiver module is used to enable telemetry communication. This website will cover the progression and research done in the development of the project which includes the study of Quadcopter, the challenges faced, approach taken to design the architecture, the implementation, and the resources involved in the development of the autonomous Quadcopter project.

BACKGROUND STUDY

Cinematography is the art of photography and camerawork in film-making. Film making has become more advanced compared to the past, proving how technology can create more outrageous and realistic scenes for viewers to see from their screen. A few decades ago, film were in black and white but now, the film industry has become much more with technology development which expanded cinematography with the use of 3-dimension, visual special effects, 360 degree video, virtual reality, argument reality and many more. These innovations have allowed film-making products to become more entertaining, interesting and immersive. And as a research study, cinematography has many aspect and viewpoint to tackle from, as of fine arts to computer science.

Film-making has taken a step further by doing the impossible and creating breathtaking from in the sky scene without the need of an expensive helicopter, but achieved entirely using a drone. In this website, we present a framework for autonomous navigation for drone-cinematography and explore various enabling technology.

LINKS

February:

2 Minutes Paper Video - https://youtu.be/GDPgIeIoA1Y

Presentation Title - Autonomous Navigation for Flying Robots

March:

2 Minutes Paper Video - https://youtu.be/FFxJm-Saqt0

Presentation Title - Autonomous Navigation for Flying Robots Part 2

April:

2 Minutes Paper Video - https://youtu.be/qaW5rmU42hQ

Presentation Title - Autonomous Navigation for Flying Robots Part 3