Implementation

The implementation involves the assembling process of the quadcopter, configuration process and specification experiment.

ASSEMBLING PROCESS

Below were the steps taken to assemble the DJI Flame wheel F450 parts together;

1. Soldered the power cable, electronic speed controller (ESC) cables and the NAZA PMU onto the bottom board with a soldering iron. This part of the process was assisted by a colleague, Fadli Sani.
2. The red wire is soldered onto the positive, while black wire is soldered onto the negative. The power cable and PMU were soldered on same outlet on the board, but the ESC cables will each have their own at the corners where the frame arm will be placed.
3. CW rotors has a dimple on its screw and arrows pointing to the left. The black propellers go with these rotors while the silver propellers go with the CCW rotors, with arrows to the right.
4. Screwed the rotors on the frame arm, one of each color. Then screwed on the frame arm on the bottom board where the ESC cables are then plugged and connected to the rotors.
5. Stuck the NAZA main flight controller at the center of the bottom board using double sided tape, facing toward the red frame arms. This is the head/front.
6. Plugged in the assigned rotor wires to the flight controller, m1 to m4.
7. Stuck on the Futaba 6-channel receiver on the board, and connected it to the other side of the main controller’s port with the servo wires provided. Their pairings as shown below.
   • A -> 1 (aileron)
   • E -> 2 (elevator)
   • T -> 3 (throttle)
   • R -> 4 (rudder)
   • U -> 5 (gear)
8. Stuck the PMU on the board and plugged its EXP cable on the main controller’s EXP module. The same goes with the LED.
9. Screwed on the top board above the frame arms.
10. Before completing, attached the GPS compass in between the top board and the frame arm, as closed to the center as possible. Making sure it is facing toward the front (red frame arm) and plugged its cable to the PMU’s GPS module.
11. Cable tied all the loose wires so its all organized and tidy.
12. Attached and screwed the landing gears.

CONFIGURATION PROCESS

1. Downloaded and installed the NAZA-M v2 Assistant software and the DJI Driver installer.
2. Connected the PC and LED via a USB Cable.
3. Plugged in the battery with the power cable and the PC should identify the device.
4. The device was not discoverable then the DJI driver is not successfully installed.
   • For windows 10 user, you needed to disable driver signature enforcement feature to successfully install the DJI driver.
   • This can be done by using an advanced boot option by holding down the shift key while you click restart in the start option windows.
   • Select “Troubleshoot” > “Advanced Options” > “Startup settings”, then type “7” or “F7” button to disable driver signature mode.
   • Installed the driver by opening device manager and updating the driver software of the COM device connected to the USB port.
   • Selected “let me pick from a list” > “have disk”, then browsed to the location of the driver located at \Program Files (x86)\DJI Product\DJI driver2.02\source64 and select the .inf file.
   • The drone and remote control can now be configured.
5. Launched the NAZA-M Assistant program.
6. Turned on the RC and make sure it is transmitted to the receiver, else use the plastic screw to pin the SW. The receiver should blink green.
7. In the NAZA-M Assistant program, twirlrf the control stick around, the channel monitor should moves along When the control sticks are both moved to the bottom left, the channel monitor should all be moved toward the left.
8. In basic aircraft, selected the QuadRotorX and did the motor test. Made sure the direction of the propellers goes the right direction; else switched the two of the ESC cables.
9. Started the calibration in basic RC.
10. In gain, use the following settings.

SPECIFICATION EXPERIMENT

Testing the limitation of the nRF24L01+ to see the range and how far the network connectivity will reach. The hardware involved is as followed;

Transmitter: Arduino Uno with 25V 10uF capacitor

Receiver: Arduino Mega with 16V 3.3uF capacitor

Conducted indoor at UTB Phase 2 corridor, the range of the connectivity between the transceivers can estimate reached up to 52 feet or 16 meters. Any further and the communication will fail with response timed out. This data is important and must always be considered, for when flying the autonomous navigation drone, the quadcopter must always be in range of the transceiver’s limit. Else, it will lose connectivity and control over the quadcopter.