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Hover Bot 1.

0
B.S. ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING, BATCH 2008 Internal Advisor Fahad Ahmed Siddiqui Assistant Professor Electronics SSUET, Karachi External Advisor Maqbool Ahmed Siddiqui Manager Electronics SUPARCO, Karachi

Submitted by:

Muhammed Yousuf Asad Idrees Syed Ali Asghar Faraz Ahmed Faizan Ahmed Ali Farzan

EE-2008-075 EE-2008-090 EE-2008-091 EE-2008-093 EE-2008-107 EE-2008-109

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING SIR SYED UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, KARACHI
JANUARY 2012

SIR SYED UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING University Road, Karachi-75300, Pakistan TEL: 349488000-2, 34952363, 111-994-994 Fax: 4982393 http://www.ssuet.edu.pk The Faculty of Electronic Engineering

Project Approval
Project Title Internal Advisor External Advisor Academic Year Group Members: Muhammed Yousuf Asad Idrees Syed Ali Asghar Faraz Ahmed Faizan Ahmed Ali Farzan EE-2008-07 EE-2008-090 EE-2008-091 EE-2008-093 EE-2008-107 EE-2008-109 2008-2011 Hover Bot 1.0 Mr. FAHAD AHMED SIDDIQUI, Asst. Professor, SSUET

The Department of Electronic Engineering Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology has approved this Final Year Project. The Project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering. Approval Committee:

(------------------------------) Internal Advisor

(----------------------------) External Advisor

(-------------------------------) FYP Committee In charge

(-----------------------------) Chairman EE Department

TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT .................................................................................................. 3 Figure Table .................................................................................................................... 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................. 7 ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 10 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 SELECTION OF PROJECT .......................................................................... 10 Scope of Project ............................................................................................. 10 Synopsis ......................................................................................................... 10 Motivation ...................................................................................................... 12 Overview ........................................................................................................ 12 Significance of project ................................................................................... 12 Project Requirements ..................................................................................... 14 Methodology .................................................................................................. 14 Quad-rotors Movement and Control ............................................................. 15 SPEED CONTROL OF BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS ............................. 16

1.10.1 PPM.......................................................................................................... 16 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Electronic Speed Control (ESC) ................................................................. 17 PWM........................................................................................................... 17 AVR mainboard .......................................................................................... 18 Wireless Communication ........................................................................... 19 ZigBee ........................................................................................................ 19

CHAPTER TWO: BACKGROUND ............................................................................ 21 2.1 2.2 2.3 History ............................................................................................................ 21 Features: ......................................................................................................... 23 Comparisons & Feasibility ............................................................................. 24 Helicopter:............................................................................................... 24 Tri Copter: ............................................................................................... 25 Hex Copter: ............................................................................................. 25 Dragonfly ................................................................................................ 25 Quad Copter ............................................................................................ 26

2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.3.4 2.3.5

CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................... 27

3.1

Quad-rotor Physics:- ...................................................................................... 27

CHAPTER FOUR: DESIGN & COMPONENTS ........................................................ 28 4.1 4.2 SYSTEM DESIGN ........................................................................................ 28 Motors and Electronic Speed Controller: ....................................................... 29 Servos:..................................................................................................... 29 Comparison of Brushed and Brushless DC Motors: ....................... 30 Electronic Speed Controller (ESC): ................................................. 31

4.2.1

4.2.1.1 4.2.2 4.3 4.4

Frame.............................................................................................................. 31 Battery and Charger ....................................................................................... 32 Battery: .................................................................................................... 32 Selection of Battery: ........................................................................ 32

4.4.1

4.4.1.1 4.4.2 4.5

Charger:................................................................................................... 33

Propellers:....................................................................................................... 33 Selection.................................................................................................. 34

4.5.1 4.6 4.7

PROP-ADAPTER .......................................................................................... 35 Electronics ...................................................................................................... 36 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) Board: ............................................... 36 Gyroscope ............................................................................................... 37 Uses of Gyroscopes ......................................................................... 37

4.7.1 4.7.2

4.7.2.1 4.7.3 4.7.4

Accelerometers ....................................................................................... 38 Micro-controller: ..................................................................................... 39 Atmel AVR Microcontrollers .......................................................... 39 Specifications................................................................................... 40

4.7.4.1 4.7.4.2 4.8

Communication: ............................................................................................. 42 XBEE Module:........................................................................................ 42 Remote Control ....................................................................................... 43

4.8.1 4.8.2 4.9

Material Selection .......................................................................................... 43 4.9.1 4.9.2 4.9.3 4.9.4 4.9.5 Nylon: ..................................................................................................... 43 Carbon Fiber: .......................................................................................... 43 Steel: ....................................................................................................... 44 Wood: ..................................................................................................... 44 Aluminum: .............................................................................................. 44

CHAPTER FIVE: SOFTWARE ................................................................................... 45 5.1 Selection of Language .................................................................................... 45 4

5.2 5.3

Programming .................................................................................................. 45 FLOW CHART .............................................................................................. 46

CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................................................. 47 6.1 Future Enhancements ..................................................................................... 47

ANNEXURE A ............................................................................................................. 48 7.1 DATA SHEETS ............................................................................................. 48

Figure Table
Figure 1: Movements for flying objects........................................................................ 15 Figure 2: HoverBot Maneuvering ................................................................................. 16 Figure 3: PPM wave for 3 Phase BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS.................................. 17 Figure 4: PWM Period & Duty (on-Time) ................................................................... 18 Figure 5 : PWM Duty Cycle Variation ......................................................................... 18 Figure 6: AVR MAIN BOARD SCHEMATIC ............................................................ 19 Figure 7 DeBothezats quad-rotor Design, .................................................................... 21 Figure 8 :Oeminchen No.2 Quad-rotor Design, 1922................................................... 22 Figure 9: Convertawings Model A quad-rotor Design, 1956 .................................... 23 Figure 10: System Block Diagram ................................................................................ 28 Figure 11: Brushless DC motor .................................................................................... 29 Figure 12: ESC.............................................................................................................. 31 Figure 13: 4000mA LiPo Battery ................................................................................. 33 Figure 14: Propellers ..................................................................................................... 34 Figure 15: 9x3.6 Dual-Blade Prop ................................................................................ 35 Figure 16: 7x3.5 Tri-Blade Prop ................................................................................... 35 Figure 17: Propeller Adapters ....................................................................................... 36 Figure 18: Gyroscope Dimensions................................................................................ 37 Figure 19: Accelerometer Board ................................................................................... 38 Figure 20: Atmel Meg 32.............................................................................................. 39 Figure 21: XBee module ............................................................................................... 42 Figure 22: FLOW CHART FOR THE HOVER BOT 1.0 PROGRAMMING ............ 46

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the name of ALLAH the most merciful; the one and only supreme power, the one whose will makes everything possible, and the one without whose will the simplest is impossible.

We are thankful to ALMIGHTY ALLAH for giving us the courage and strength to successfully complete our project, under the title Hover BOT 1.0.

We would like to thank our Family members for their prayers, guidance, support and care. Without their moral and financial support it would not have been possible for us to achieve this milestone.

We express our indebtedness and heartfelt gratitude to Mr.Fahad Ahmed Siddiqui, under whose able and sincere advice and guidance we have become successful in completing this project.

We also wish our gratitude to all the staff in the university. And last but not the least we acknowledge the efforts of our teachers who have been our source of inspiration throughout the university years and have shared their knowledge and skills with us.

To all these people and many more, we have failed to mention we extended our sincere thanks.

Group Members

ABSTRACT
HoverBot 1.0 is an Un-Manned Aerial and Ground Vehicle. It is a Hover Bot 1.0 on Wheels controlled wirelessly by a Game Controller connected to a Laptop which sends and receives signals to and from HoverBot 1.0 and displays Monitory data on a GUI. HoverBot 1.0 is carefully designed to maintain a balance between Robustness, Weight, Speed, Stability and Looks. Each arm of HoverBot 1.0 is 1 ft. in length and has a width of 1 cm. The four arms, made of Aluminum join together underneath the circuit holding area which is Balsa Wood, which is strong yet very light in weight. The battery holder is a cut out plastic piece sandwiched in a Styrofoam shock absorber. The wheels are mounted under the arms and are equidistant from the center. The heart of HoverBot 1.0, its mainboard lies on top of the Balsa Wood circuit holder which consists of an Atmega 32 (AVR) Microcontroller which controls both, the Hover Bot 1.0 and the Wheels underneath it. The AVR mainboard also consists of 2 very important Components. 1. XBEE Wireless Receiver 2. Inertial Measurement Unit The XBEE Wireless Communications Module is easy to interface with a computer as compared to other RF Communications Modules. It is interfaced through the serial port on our laptop. The Inertial Measurement unit is an extremely important component of HoverBot 1.0. It provides data about the orientation of HoverBot 1.0 in air. This data is analog and is received by the AVR through its ADCs. The AVR has 4 PWM generators which is its most important application in this project. The PWM signals are sent to ESCs which convert them into PPM signals that control the speed of the Brush Less DC Motors. Mounted under the battery holding Styrofoam is a wireless Camera that provides real time footage of the field. The ESCs also have a special feature of noise rejection. Any data other than the required PWM signal is rejected by the ESC. HoverBot 1.0 has an Auto-Pilot feature which is achieved solely by programming, no use of GPS is done for the calculation of distance, learning the path, or staying within the range of XBEE module. HoverBot 1.0 can be used in military operations such as Recon and Surveillance. It has a payload capacity of 0.5 to 0.8 Kg. It can also be used as a weapon. It can carry rigged explosives to enemy barricades and trenches and detonate, minimizing the risk for

friendly soldiers. Ground mobility enables HoverBot 1.0 to preserve battery, not every destination requires an aerial route

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION


This report presents detailed insights into our Final Year Project The purpose of this project is to introduce our group's work on the project that we started almost a year ago. We have included the all the relative requisites that needed to be done to complete this project. Also, we have included a discussion of how the designs meet the criteria given in the project outline. The Hover Bot 1.0 should be a very versatile Drone for military purposes.

1.1 SELECTION OF PROJECT


Several possible projects were thought of while doing initial research. Even After deep and thorough research we couldnt come up with something worthwhile. However we did want to make a project that related to the military. With sheer luck we came up with a reconnaissance drone that was used in a computer game called FRONTLINE FUELS OF WAR that was being played by a group member at that time and we felt that this is what we have to make. It was a huge challenge for us to create a machine that would not apply our knowledge into it but also would become useful and beneficial for us and other concerned people.

1.2 Scope of Project


After selection of the project, the group members decided to define the scope of the project due to time limitations. The boundaries of the project should also be defined for approval and achieving the best maximum results from this project in the practical sense.

1.3 Synopsis

An autonomous quad-rotor is an unmanned helicopter with four horizontal

fixed rotors designed in a square, symmetric configuration, with the front and back rotors rotating counter-clockwise and the side rotors clockwise. Quad-rotors were

conceptualized by Dr. George de Bothezat and Ivan Jerome in the 1920s. Early designs never achieved a hovering height greater than five meters. Few applicable uses arose for the quad-rotor over the years.

Recently, they have become a very popular consumer product as a remote control (RC) helicopter. The quad-rotor is such a proficient RC helicopter due to the fixed rotor design, which consequently reduces the chance of failure in comparison with the actuating rotor design of single rotor RC helicopters. In addition, having four motors versus one motor allows for an increased potential thrust. Therefore the quadrotor has impressive maneuvering capabilities that make it a great indoor and/or outdoor RC helicopter. The advantages to developing an autonomous miniature quadrotor are numerous and make it a worthy research topic. In addition, having four motors versus one motor allows for an increased potential thrust. Therefore the quadrotor has impressive maneuvering capabilities that make it a great indoor and/or outdoor RC helicopter. The advantages to developing an autonomous miniature quadrotor are numerous and make it a worthy research topic.

Developing an autonomous miniature quad-rotor yielded many difficulties. Initially there was research into different types of motors, propellers, batteries and control schemes in an effort to develop task specifications to accomplish flight. The motors and propellers must produce enough thrust to lift all the components into flight and maneuver. The batteries need to have a large enough capacity to allow for sufficient flight time. Algorithm for the dynamic control equations used to correct the attitude of the quad-rotor and create steady level flight has to be formulated. At the same time, components for movement position must be chosen and implemented into a circuit. Also, frame must be constructed to hold the motors and all the electronic components. Once the final construction of the quad-rotor has been completed, a program to use the algorithms will be created to allow the computer to fly the quadrotor. Thus, there are many facets in constructing a quad-rotor producing many challenges in integrating all the components.

The goal is to design a miniaturized autonomous quad-rotor capable of taking off from a landed position, maneuvering to a point determined by a programming, so it 11

can hover, and land at its take off point. The team designed a quad-rotor based on the RC helicopter configurations, except the provided quad-rotors thrust capabilities needed improvement as well as the battery operating time to accomplish the goals. Algorithms were developed to map the dynamics of the miniature quad-rotor to implement them in a program capable of flying the helicopter.

1.4 Motivation
We were motivated to select HoverBot for our Final Year Project from a Discovery Channel program Future Weapons and by the concept of a Remote Controlled Drone in a computer game called Frontlines - Fuels of War by THQ in which the drone was used for reconnaissance missions and it could also sneak into terrorist bunkers/barricades/hideouts and detonate itself

1.5 Overview
HoverBot is a machine that could fly and move on the ground for reconnaissance mission controlled from a remote location. The design of the HoverBot will be that of a Quad-Copter. A Quad Copter on wheels.

1.6 Significance of project


Historically, helicopters with four rotors (Hover Bot 1.0s) have not been very common, mainly because most of the usual payloads could be lifted using one or two rotors. However, the Hover Bot 1.0 possesses some special characteristics that make it attractive. One, of course, is the superior payload capacity. The other is the simplicity of its control system: just by independently adjusting the speed of each rotor it is possible to control both the altitude and the horizontal/vertical motion. This system is particularly suitable for small UAVs, because it reduces the mechanical complexity of the rotors (saving volume and weight) and simplifies the control algorithms. Hover Bot 1.0 does not require mechanical linkages to vary the rotor blade pitch angle as they spin. This simplifies the design of the vehicle, and reduces maintenance time and cost. 12

Secondly, the use of four rotors allows each individual rotor to have a smaller diameter than the equivalent helicopter rotor, for a given vehicle size, allowing them to store less kinetic energy during flight. This reduces the damage caused should the rotors hit any objects.

A quad copter also has many advantages over an airplane these are The most important is that it can hover whereas a conventional aircraft cant do so. An aircraft requires a runway to land and take-off whereas a Hover Bot 1.0 can do VTOL.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are crafts capable of flight without an onboard pilot. They can be controlled remotely by an operator, or can be controlled autonomously via pre-programmed flight paths. Written programs have the craft turn on, lift off, hover, translate, and land, or any other combination of these tasks. More difficult tasks, such as a positioning or navigational system require additional components and more advanced programming, but can easily be adapted to this quadrotor. The quad-rotor in this project is capable of ground movement as well. So, we can say it is Unmanned Aerial and Ground Vehicle (U.A.G.V.). It is first of its kind till date. As a result of ground movement, it helps military by providing additional support for spying purpose. The other features are its light weight, quick and small craft of carrying pay-load up to 1 kg.

An effective autonomous miniature quad-rotor would have many practical applications ranging from civil purpose such as to provide food and water to a person who has been trapped in a mine and the mine is susceptible to collapse. Photos and aerial videos could be acquired of areas dangerous for humans such as volcanoes, glaciers or caverns. It can also be used for rescue and search operations by integrating heat sensors in case of natural calamity or man-made accident. Moreover, a quad-rotor can also be used for various military applications such as spying enemy forces and detonating itself to enemy forces and save precious life of soldiers. It can also be used for surveillance and intelligence. 13

1.7 Project Requirements


Since the quad-rotor aircraft should be capable of take-off from a landed position and to maneuver to any determines position, it should have some features that make it possible to perform some operations after suitable up-gradation. One important feature is that it must be capable of following a path that is saved in its memory, that is, it can remember its path so it can return safely to launching position. Another important feature is of auto-pilot mode. In auto-pilot mode, quad-rotor should be able to land safely where the limit restriction of aircraft has reached.

So, there is no chance of damage to quad-rotor which may happen in case of felling down after reaching the set limit restriction of the aircraft.

Since, our team has also given the role of developing a remote control to give the instruction to quad-rotor for reaching desired position. We do so by using joystick, which is normally used for playing games, and interfacing it with X-bee module which is installed on the aircraft. The X-bee module is managed by Zigbee protocol. Also, we have been given the task of designing a quad-rotor that is capable of flight up to 15 meters. So, we have chosen motors and propellers as such that are capable of producing enough thrust that can lift the quad-rotor to reach our desired height, that is, 15 meters.

1.8 Methodology
The working of quad-rotor is based on multiple factors that include natural laws, hardware software interfacing etc. It includes various principles such as Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) that is the basic tenant of quad copters propeller speed control. The control and maneuvering of Hover Bot 1.0 is simpler as change in speed of rotors is the only factor. Though stability control is not as simple because the Hover Bot 1.0 itself is unstable and requires onboard sensors to gain stability. Some basic methods are explained below that makes a Hover Bot 1.0 provide its basic functionality. 14

1.9 Quad-rotors Movement and Control


Hover Bot 1.0 has 3 movement directions just as any flying objects have. These are i. ii. iii. Yaw Pitch Roll

Figure 1: Movements for flying objects

These movements can make the Hover Bot 1.0 move in any direction possible in the 3-Dimensional Space. The directional movements on Hover Bot 1.0 works on differential rotor speed between opposite rotors. For instance if you want to go right, the left rotor will have to speed up (creating more lift) and the right one slow down. This makes the platform tilt to the right; same thing for the forward and back motion. The yaw works a little different, your rotor pairs spin in opposite direction CW and CCW (canceling torque), the slow down or speed up of a pair will yaw the platform. Notice that the altitude will drop, thus a little more power will need to be applied to keep from falling. For altitude gain, all 4 rotors will have to speed up equally

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Heres how the movement of the four motors makes the Quad-rotor to maneuver its self during flight.

Figure 2: HoverBot Maneuvering

1.10 SPEED CONTROL OF BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS


BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS takes a PPM signal that makes it rotor to rotate. The faster the displacement of PPM waves the faster the BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS rotates.

1.10.1

PPM

A BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS motor works on the principle of PPM. A pulse PPM wave has wave for each input of BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS (3 in this case). The position of each pulse is displaced in time and is repetitive throughout. The PPM is generated by the Esc which is then delivered to the BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS. 16

Figure 3: PPM wave for 3 Phase BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS

1.11 Electronic Speed Control (ESC)


An ESC takes PWM input signals and converts it into PPM. That is the main function of the Esc as PWM waves are easier to generate than PPM. Another advantage of using the ESC is that it eliminates the need of an extra power source for the Mainboard as ESC

1.12 PWM
PWM waveforms are "on-off" digital waveforms that are specified by two values: the period and the duty cycle, as shown below.

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Figure 4: PWM Period & Duty (on-Time) A PWM works by making a square wave with a variable on-to-off ratio, the average on time may be varied from 0 to 100 percent. In this manner, a variable amount of power is transferred to the load. The power transferred can be varied by changing the duty cycle as shown below.

Figure 5 : PWM Duty Cycle Variation

1.13 AVR mainboard


The AVR Mainboard is the brain of the quad copter. It is designed on the logic of a servo tester. A servo tester provides an initial pulse of 1.5 ms to arm the Motor 18

and then an increased pulse time produces thrust. The AVR is programmed to generate PWM signals on four pins.

Figure 6: AVR MAIN BOARD SCHEMATIC

1.14 Wireless Communication


For wireless communication we will be using XBEE Communications Module. The XBEE module is based on the ZigBee wireless technology which is part of the IEEE 802 standard.

1.15 ZigBee
ZigBee is a wireless technology developed as an open global standard to address the unique needs of low-cost, low-power wireless mesh networks. The ZigBee standard operates on the IEEE 802.15.4 physical radio specification and operates in

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unlicensed bands including 2.4 GHz, 900 MHz and 868 MHz. The specification is a packet-based radio protocol intended for low-cost, battery-operated devices.

The low cost allows the technology to be widely deployed in wireless control and monitoring applications. Low power-usage allows longer life with smaller batteries. Mesh networking provides high reliability and more extensive range. The technology is intended to be simpler and less expensive than other WPANs such as Bluetooth. ZigBee chip vendors typically sell integrated radios and microcontrollers with between 60 KB and 256 KB flash memory.

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CHAPTER TWO: BACKGROUND

2.1 History
The idea of a quad-rotor aircraft has existed since early in the 20th century. Throughout the 20th century very few distinct rotor-craft designs had been developed. The earliest workable designs for a quad-rotor were developed by George DeBothezat, Etienne Oemichen and D.H. Kaplan.

, Figure 7 DeBothezats quad-rotor Design,

Oemichens quad-rotor design is the earliest mention of a complete four-rotor hovering vehicle in history. Oemichens first design in 1920 failed in the initial attempt to become airborne, thereby requiring Oemichen to add additional lifting power and stability of a helium-filled balloon. After a number of recalculations and redesigns, Oemichen was able to come up with a design that actually was capable of lift off and even established world helicopter flight records of the time, remaining airborne for up to 14 minutes at a time by 1923.

After working on his design for over 2 years, DeBothezats was able to develop a fairly capable helicopter, which was able to take on a payload of up to 3 people in

addition to the pilot. His design was deemed underpowered, unresponsive and susceptible to reliability problems. In addition, instead of the calculated 100 meters cruising altitude, his craft was only capable of reaching a height of roughly 5m.

Figure 8 :Oeminchen No.2 Quad-rotor Design, 1922

The early designs were propelled by additional rotors located somewhere on the rear or the front of the craft, perpendicular to the main rotors. Thus, they are not true quad-rotor designs. It was not until the mid-1950s that a true quad-rotor helicopter flew, which was designed by Marc Adam Kaplan. Kaplans quad-rotor design, Convertawings Model A quad-rotor, is arguably the most successful of the early designs of the rotor-craft. The prototype first flew in 1956, and did so with great success. The 2200 pounds craft was able to hover and maneuver using its two 90 horsepower motors, each capable of driving all four rotors in backup mode. Control in this case did not call for additional rotors on the sides of the craft, but was obtained by varying thrust between rotors. This also was the first quad-rotor design that was able to fly forward successfully. Despite these early proofs-of-concepts, people saw little practical use for quadrotors. They simply were not competitive with the performance specifications (speed, payload, range, etc.) of more conventional aircrafts. No production contracts were awarded and interest in quad-rotors waned. Recently however, there has been renewed interest in quad-rotors from hobbyists. This old idea is returning with great potential after RC quad-rotors have shown that there is definite potential in the quad-rotor platform.

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Figure 9: Convertawings Model A quad-rotor Design, 1956

2.2 Features:
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are crafts capable of flight without an onboard pilot. They can be controlled remotely by an operator, or can be controlled autonomously via pre-programmed flight paths. Written programs have the craft turn on, lift off, hover, translate, and land, or any other combination of these tasks. More difficult tasks, such as a positioning or navigational system require additional components and more advanced programming, but can easily be adapted to this quadrotor. The quad-rotor in this project is capable of ground movement as well. So, we can say it is Unmanned Aerial and Ground Vehicle (U.A.G.V.). It is first of its kind till date. As a result of ground movement, it helps military by providing additional support for spying purpose. The other features are its light weight, quick and small craft of carrying pay-load up to .5kg.

An effective autonomous miniature quad-rotor would have many practical applications ranging from civil purpose such as to provide food and water to a person who has been trapped in a mine and the mine is susceptible to collapse. Photos and aerial videos could be acquired of areas dangerous for humans such as volcanoes, 23

glaciers or caverns. It can also be used for rescue and search operations by integrating heat sensors in case of natural calamity or man-made accident. Moreover, a quad-rotor can also be used for various military applications such as spying enemy forces and detonating itself to enemy forces and save precious life of soldiers. It can also be used for surveillance and intelligence.

2.3 Comparisons & Feasibility


In this section here we compare the quad-rotor with other different types of UAVs and try to explain the reasons for choosing this design as our project. We had some selection criteria in our mind which are as follows. The design must be simple i.e. minimum moving parts Control mechanism must be as simple as possible. The budget is limited so the overall cost must not exceed that. Performance ratio must be good The UAVs Payload must be sufficient enough to carry at least 300gm of explosives.

Now we compare different designs that can be chosen as our design for the project

2.3.1 Helicopter:
Complex mechanical structure and control The most common among manned or unmanned air vehicles that a man can perceive is non-other than a helicopter. Now, since we all are more familiar with a helicopter a natural tendency for design selection would be this but this is where things starts to get complicated. A helicopter has only a single rotor for thrust and another for balancing the angular acceleration. Since it has only on thrust producing rotor its movements (forward backward, sideways) is now based on the mechanical movement of the rotor. Since it includes mechanical moving parts it is not a feasible design, because mechanical movements make the design complex. 24

2.3.2 Tri Copter:


Better Agility than any other UAV but Complex control Even though the tri-copter has better agility than any other UAV and was a serious contender for selection a basic drawback exists in its control. This too has a complex control mechanism because at least one of the motor has to have a servo mechanism that makes the control complex and doesnt satisfy our criteria as it too had mechanical moving parts. Also making ground mobility on the design would have been difficult because of unstable design.

2.3.3 Hex Copter:


More powerful than a Quad at the expense of cost Even though the hex copter is more powerful the all of the above mentioned designs and can carry more payload because of its 6 rotors providing thrust but the cost was an important issue because additional PKR 12000-13000 was too great cost for our limited budget.

2.3.4 Dragonfly
Most difficult to control, Thruster not easily available A dragon fly produces its thrust with the help of thrusters which are very expensive to an extent that a single thruster costs approx. 70% of our overall project cost. Also the movement of a dragonfly is based on the positioning of the thruster about their axis which makes the design the most complex of all designs.

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2.3.5 Quad Copter


Justified price and performance ratio, simplest control, Good payload capacity Now that leaves us with a quad-copter design that fits the bill perfectly for us as it had suitable payload capacity, no moving parts (except the rotors of course), easier control than the rest and most important of all the performance to cost ratio was perfect.

Also because it has four arms the ground mobility on wheels becomes easier because it can now move as a car with the weight distributed equally on all sides.

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CHAPTER THREE 3.1 Quad-rotor Physics:Hover Bot 1.0s (and many other objects of engineering interest, flying or otherwise) can be modeled via Newton's Laws. The overall governing equation is:

Where: F m is is the net the force mass in in, pounds, ounces, or or Newtons kilograms

grams

a is the acceleration in feet/second/second, or meters/s^2 or centimeters/s^2 (all of these units are just common examples; there are others, In words, net forces cause masses to accelerate. This is why larger vehicles tend to be more stable - it takes larger forces to move them. Similarly, smaller craft tend to be more agile. Stability vs. agility is a frequent design engineering trade off - at least before feedback augmentation was available. A certain amount of force has to be generated just to maintain a steady condition. For example, for the quad to hover it must provide sufficient force to overcome gravity. For it to maintain forward flight, the quad must overcome both gravity and air resistance (also known as aerodynamic drag). When aircraft are in this steady condition, they are said to be "trimmed" or "in trim". Only forces that are in excess of the forces required to trim the quad will cause it to accelerate.

CHAPTER FOUR: DESIGN & COMPONENTS 4.1 SYSTEM DESIGN


The design of quad-rotor comprises mechanical and electronic procedures. It consists of several structural components to be integrated to achieve the desire goal. The table below summarizes main structural components as
Table 1

Quantity Name 1 4 1 1 4 4 1 4 1 1 Central Hub Arm Battery Holder Battery Electronic Speed Controller DC Motors AVR Microcontroller Propellers Xbee Module Inertial Measurement Unit

Figure 10: System Block Diagram

4.2 Motors and Electronic Speed Controller:


A quad-rotors driving force is produced by four servos and an electronic speed controller (E.S.C.) for each motor.

4.2.1 Servos:
A servo is the component used to provide the driving torque. In our case, the servos drive each of the four propeller blades. There are two types of servos: brushed and brushless. The brushed DC motor is the conventional type of servo. The brushes make mechanical contact with a set of electrical contacts on the rotor, called the commutator. This forms an electrical circuit between the DC electrical source and the armature coilwindings. As the armature rotates on the axis, the stationary brushes come into contact with different sections of the rotating commutator. The commutator and brush system form a pair of electrical switches, each firing in sequence. Consequently, the armature coil closest to the stationary stator, which is a permanent magnet, constantly has electrical power flowing through it.

Figure 11: Brushless DC motor

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In a brushless DC motor, the electromagnets are stationary. The permanent magnets rotate and the armature remains static. This gets around the problem of how to transfer current to a moving armature. To do this, the brush-system/commutator assembly is replaced by an intelligent electronic controller. The controller performs the same power distribution found in a brushed DC motor, but uses a solid-state circuit rather than a commutator/brush system.

4.2.1.1 Comparison of Brushed and Brushless DC Motors:


Brushless DC (BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS) motors offer several advantages over brushed DC motors. Brushless motors have higher efficiency and reliability, reduced noise, elimination of ionizing sparks from the commutator, overall reduction of electromagnetic interference (EMI). Moreover, it has no brush erosion which results in long lifetime. The maximum power that can be applied to a BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS motor is exceptionally high, limited almost exclusively by heat, which can damage the magnets. Brushless DC motors primary disadvantage is their high cost compared to brushed DC motors. The reason is that BRUSH LESS DC MOTORS require complex ESCs to run. Brushed DC motors can be regulated by a variable resistor and potentiometer or rheostat, which is inefficient but cost effective. However, in our case efficiency is very important so prefer to use brushless dc motor over brushed dc motor.

Brushless DC motors are more efficient than brushed DC motors. The absence of friction in the brushes of a Brushless DC motor will convert more electrical energy into mechanical power than a brushed motor. Brushless DC motors are designed to operate over a broad range of speeds and have the advantage of reduced maintenance since there are no brushes or commutators. In conclusion, Brushless DC motors offer increased speed and superior performance with higher torque-to-inertia ratio than their counterparts.

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4.2.2 Electronic Speed Controller (ESC):


An ESC directs the servo, which in turn controls rotor rotation. Basically, an ESC is an Electronic circuit that is used to vary the speed or direction of an electric motor. ESC interprets control information as switching rate of FETs rather than mechanical mechanism. ESCs have built-in hall sensors that is used to determine rotor position relative to stator coils. The ESC takes PWM as input from the microcontroller and generates PPM as output. This output PPM will direct the rotation of motor.

Figure 12: ESC

4.3 Frame
We believe that the current frame will prove sufficient for our purposes. It is light, sturdy, easy to construct, and capable of housing the components we require securely. Currently our Hover Bot 1.0 is made up of Aluminum which is light weight, strong and most importantly cheaper than its counterparts. However, given more time several improvements are possible. In the future use of carbon fiber tubing and sheets, and perhaps even thermoplastics, might allow for an equally functional structure that is 31

lighter and more aesthetically pleasing. Though the aluminum support rods seem to hold our motors well enough for our purposes, some of the arms had the tendency to torque to offset angles and required readjusted before each flight. Also, screwing the ABS to the aluminum rods (for ease of assembly/disassembly) proved detrimental to the structural integrity as the rods dented with the added strain. We hope that future iterations will not have these issues if the arms are constructed out of carbon fiber.

4.4 Battery and Charger


4.4.1 Battery:
Battery is a device use to convert chemical energy to electrical energy. Battery works on the principle of electrolysis in which a compound called electrolyte will undergo decomposition by passage of electric current. Two electrodes, anode and cathode are connected to electrolyte. The two electrodes brought the current to electrolyte. As a result, charge will flow from anode to cathode.

4.4.1.1 Selection of Battery:


Choosing the correct battery for a quad-rotor is difficult. The batteries that are generally used are NiCad (nickel cadmium). Nickel batteries present several problems. They do not contain enough energy to give an extended flight time. Roughly five minutes of flight time is produced during normal flight before the battery fails.

There are some other batteries are also available such as Manganese batteries, alkaline batteries, and Silver oxide batteries etc. but they are very low in performance and cannot be used for long-span. Such batteries are suitable only for very low voltage products.

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Figure 13: 4000mA LiPo Battery

Lithium Ion Polymer (LIPO) is the most suitable for our quad-rotor. It has great efficiency as well as it provides enough power for long-span. It has another advantage that since it is soft so it can easily be placed in battery holder. The battery we have used provides 12V and 4000 mA current.

4.4.2 Charger:
A problem with the battery is that it discharges with time. So we need a charger to address this issue. The charger of Lithium ion Polymer (LIPO) acts in a different manner as compared to nickels battery charger. A Li-poly charger functions by charging each cell at a constant current charge rate of about 75% of the cells capacity. The charging process normally takes an hour and a half to complete.

4.5 Propellers:
The propeller is the thrust producing component on the quad-rotor. Designs of the airfoil for the propeller are highly studied and coveted engineering secrets and have been for more than a century. Over the years many classes of airfoils have been developed. Each design created for different applications, producing 33

different flight specifications. For the RC quad-rotor application there is only one class, the small-scale fixed-pitch rotor blade. The miniature quad-rotor most commonly uses a twin-blade propeller for each of its motors. The twin-blade design is light and provides excellent mission endurance. One of problem to deal with is separation drag.

Figure 14: Propellers

To reduce separation drag the trailing edge of the airfoil must be sharp, which creates a thin, highly acute angle. An additional consideration is the moment force on the airfoil. A high moment force can increase wear, create unwanted vibrations, and increase drag. To reduce the moment, the center of pressure must be moved rearward. One can accomplish this by shifting the center of thickness and camber away from the leading edge, however this decreases lift. Consequently, there is a trade-off between minimizing the moment force and maximizing lift. Another way to reduce moments is by increasing the mechanical stiffness, which reduces angular deflection.

4.5.1 Selection
We decided to try several propeller designs in an attempt to find quiet, fast, and high thrust combinations for our motors. The first set consists of two-blade, 83.8 props. (8 inch diameter, 3.8 blade pitch).

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Figure 15: 9x3.6 Dual-Blade Prop These are fairly large rotors and draw fairly low current for our hover estimate. The second set consists of tri-blade, 73.5 props (7 inch diameter, 3.5 blade pitch).

Figure 16: 7x3.5 Tri-Blade Prop After some research, it was found that tri-blade props can be quieter than dualblade when run at the same speed, though they draw a couple hundred milliamps more at hover. The test results for both prop sets can be seen in the figures below.

4.6 PROP-ADAPTER
Even though the figure below shows only screws and nuts and may seem of no importance at all this prop adapter is a very important component of the quad copter. It keeps the propellers tightly in their place and stops it from flying away and causing and hazard to humans or anything around. Since the motor rotates at incredibly high speed and if any propeller leaves the copter during flight it is going to result in instant crashing of the copter and may severely damage the quad copter. It can also severely hurt any humans in the vicinity.

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Figure 17: Propeller Adapters

4.7 Electronics
To control the quad-rotor autonomously, it has a micro-controller, connected to an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a wireless operations unit to drive the four main motors. To get the quad-rotor to hover or move in mid-air effectively and reliably, the craft must have a fairly accurate inertial measurement system, which sends all the necessary inputs to the micro-controller resulting in its ability to determine its instantaneous movement and correct for any instabilities in its flight.

4.7.1 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) Board:


A device that includes accelerometers and gyroscopes is named IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit). This device use one or more accelerometers to detect the acceleration rate and one or more gyroscopes to detect changes in the rotational attributes like pitch, roll and yaw. A compass is a device that determines the direction of movement in relation to the Earth's magnetic poles. This allows a vehicle to move in a certain direction. It is also possible to use proximity sensors such as infrared or ultrasound to guide the quad copter or even a GPS device.

The new quad copter must have at least a 3-axis accelerometer (3 spatial coordinates

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xyz) and a gyroscope to detect the rotation. The alternative to these two sensors is an IMU device.

4.7.2 Gyroscope
A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of conservation of angular momentum. Gyroscopes can be very perplexing objects because they move in peculiar ways and even seem to defy gravity. These special properties make gyroscopes extremely important in everything from your bicycle to the advanced navigation system on the space shuttle. A

typical airplane uses about a dozen gyroscopes in everything from its compass to its autopilot.

Figure 18: Gyroscope Dimensions

4.7.2.1 Uses of Gyroscopes


The effect of all this is that, once you spin a gyroscope, its axle wants to keep pointing in the same direction. If you mount the gyroscope in a set of gimbals so that it can continue pointing in the same direction, it will. This is the basis of the gyrocompass. If you mount two gyroscopes with their axles at right angles to one another on a platform, and place the platform inside a set of gimbals, the platform will remain completely rigid as the gimbals rotate in any way they please. This is this basis of inertial navigation systems (INS).

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In an INS, sensors on the gimbals' axles detect when the platform rotates. The INS uses those signals to understand the vehicle's rotations relative to the platform. If you add to the platform a set of three sensitive accelerometers, you can tell exactly where the vehicle is heading and how its motion is changing in all three directions. With this information, an airplane's autopilot can keep the plane on course, and a rocket's guidance system can insert the rocket into a desired orbit!

4.7.3 Accelerometers
An accelerometer is a device that measures the vibration, or acceleration of motion of a structure. The force caused by vibration or a change in motion (acceleration) causes the mass to "squeeze" the piezoelectric material which produces an electrical charge that is proportional to the force exerted upon it. Since the charge is proportional to the force, and the mass is a constant, then the charge is also proportional to the acceleration

Figure 19: Accelerometer Board

An Inertial Navigation System (INS) is a navigation aid that uses a computer and motion sensors (accelerometers) to continuously calculate the position, orientation, and velocity (direction and speed of movement) of a moving object without the need for external references. Other terms used to refer to inertial navigation systems or closely related devices include inertial guidance system, inertial reference platform, and many other variations. An accelerometer alone is unsuitable to determine changes in altitude over distances where the vertical decrease of gravity is significant, such as for aircraft and

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rockets. In the presence of a gravitational gradient, the calibration and data reduction process is numerically unstable.

4.7.4 Micro-controller:
The microcontroller chosen on our main board is the Atmel atmega32/atmega328 series microcontroller.

4.7.4.1 Atmel AVR Microcontrollers


The AVR is a Modified Harvard architecture 8-bit RISC single chip microcontroller. It was developed by Atmel in 1996. Harvard architecture means that the program and data are stored in separate memory spaces which are accessible simultaneously. The AVR was one of the first microcontroller families to use on-chip flash memory for program storage, as opposed to One-Time Programmable ROM, EPROM, or EEPROM used by other microcontrollers at the time. Flash memory is a nonvolatile (persistent on power-down) programmable memory.

Figure 20: Atmel Meg 32

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Low power and high performance AVR microcontrollers can handle demanding 8 and 16-bit applications. With a single cycle instruction RISC CPU, Pico Power technology, and a rich feature set, the AVR architecture ensures easy application development and fast code execution combined with the lowest possible power consumption. The well-defined I/O structure limits the need for external components and reduces development cost. A variety of timers, SPIs, UARTs, internal oscillators, pullup resistors, pulse width modulation, Analog Comparators, ADCs and Watch-Dog Timers are some of the features available for engineers. It is interesting to note that most instructions only take a single clock cycle to execute and there is no internal clock division. Whether you program in C, Pascal or assembly language, the tuned AVR instructions decrease program size and development time. The AVR processor features a real life stack and its instruction set was designed and optimized for use with high level languages - it is easy to program these chips using C. AVR microcontrollers may be programmed using assembly or a higher level language. Learning to program it in assembly language is a good idea, as it gives you in depth understanding of the internal operations.

4.7.4.2 Specifications
4.7.4.2.1 Features
o High-performance, Low-power AtmelAVR 8-bit Microcontroller o Advanced RISC Architecture o 131 Powerful Instructions Most Single-clock Cycle Execution o 32 8 General Purpose Working Registers o Fully Static Operation o Up to 16 MIPS Throughput at 16MHz o On-chip 2-cycle Multiplier

4.7.4.2.2 Memory
o 32Kbytes of In-System Self-programmable Flash program memory o 1024Bytes EEPROM o 2Kbytes Internal SRAM o Write/Erase Cycles: 10,000 Flash/100,000 EEPROM 40

o Data retention: 20 years at 85C/100 years at 25C

4.7.4.2.3 PERIPHERAL Features


o Two 8-bit Timer/Counters with Separate Prescalers and Compare Modes o One 16-bit Timer/Counter with Separate Prescaler, Compare Mode, and Capture Mode o Real Time Counter with Separate Oscillator o Four PWM Channels o 8-channel, 10-bit ADC o 8 Single-ended Channels o 7 Differential Channels in TQFP Package Only o 2 Differential Channels with Programmable Gain at 1x, 10x, or 200x o Byte-oriented Two-wire Serial Interface o Programmable Serial USART o Master/Slave SPI Serial Interface o Programmable Watchdog Timer with Separate On-chip Oscillator o On-chip Analog Comparator

4.7.4.2.4 Special Microcontroller Features


o Power-on Reset and Programmable Brown-out Detection o Internal Calibrated RC Oscillator o External and Internal Interrupt Sources o Six Sleep Modes: Idle, ADC Noise Reduction, Power-save, Power-down, Standby o and Extended Standby o I/O and Packages o 32 Programmable I/O Lines o 40-pin PDIP, 44-lead TQFP, and 44-pad QFN/MLF o Operating Voltages o 2.7V - 5.5V for ATmega32L o 4.5V - 5.5V for ATmega32

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4.8 Communication:
4.8.1 XBEE Module:
Xbee is one of popular wireless module in the world. It support two-ways communication (one Xbee module can send or receive the data to/from other modules).The different between Zigbee and Xbee is Zigbee is name of industry standard while Xbee is name of Zigbee standard module produced by Digi. Xbee can communicate via UART (TX, RX signal) and sending the signal (data) within the short range is very accurate. Xbee module has an internal IC that helps in encoding the data. The main advantage of this module is it consume low watt (low electric power), small size and cheap. Although it is restricted to send data within short distance, it can send data from one node to another node and this feature make it appropriate for making wireless sensor network.

Figure 21: XBee module

Xbee is the device that integrates Microcontroller and RF IC into one piece (one module). It works as transceiver equipment (the equipment that can both send and receive signal). Xbee is half-duplex and it operate at 2.4 GHz frequency band. It consume low electric power and easy to use because the interface used for sending and receiving data with Xbee is UART (TTL), so we can connect the UART communication pin of Xbee to the UART of microcontroller direct

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4.8.2 Remote Control


The remote control is a simple joy pad used for playing computer games that is interfaced with the computer. The controller has 2 sticks that are the main control keys of the quad-copter. One of them is being used to control the directions of the quad copter while the other one is used to control the thrust. The button 1, 2, 3 & 4 are being used to control different functions like auto pilot & changing functionality to ground mobility.

4.9 Material Selection


There are a number of materials available for the frame design. Among them are plastics, carbon fiber, steel, wood, and aluminum. These materials have a wide array of different mechanical properties.

4.9.1 Nylon:
Is a polymer material that is very light and easy to manufacture. It is abundant and easy to procure, however, it is not very stiff, and its mechanical properties are incredibly sensitive to environmental conditions. Ultraviolet rays will break down the molecular structure, compromising its strength. Humidity also severely compromises its strength: a relative humidity of 50% cuts its ultimate tensile strength (UTS) in half.

4.9.2 Carbon Fiber:


Composite is comprised of carbon fibers in a matrix of another material, typically an epoxy resin. Carbon fibers are incredibly stiff, having the highest modulus of elasticity of all the materials investigated. It is very light and very strong: its UTS is 1.3 times aluminums yet it weighs 40% less. Unfortunately, its strength is directional with UTS along its transverse axis (perpendicular) to the fibers) is only 28 MPa. Also,

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a carbon fiber composite fails with little deformation, consequently failure is often abrupt and violent, as opposed to most metals, which bend before breaking.

4.9.3 Steel:
Is an alloyed metal, which has the highest UTS of the materials investigated, beating the competition by a factor of two or more, and has the second highest stiffness. It is however by far the heaviest, nearly three times as heavy as aluminum. Its increased density requires more time to machine making it a difficult material to use.

4.9.4 Wood:
Is perhaps the most widely used structural material in the world. It is lightweight and is very easy to work with. Unfortunately, it is not as strong as the other surveyed materials, and its strength is directional like carbon fiber composite. Red oaks UTS along its transverse axis is merely 7.2 MPa. Not to mention the countless environmental issues to consider. Ultraviolet rays break down the fibers of the wood, and there is potential for rot.

4.9.5 Aluminum:
Is a metal that has been used consistently for various aerospace applications. It is a good compromise between strength, rigidity, and weight. It is not as strong as stainless steel, but weighs considerably less, and it is not as light as carbon fiber, but does not have the same directional load dependency.

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CHAPTER FIVE: SOFTWARE 5.1 Selection of Language


Initially we started the programming of Hover Bot in assembly language as it was simple and easy enough to understand. But later on we found out that for implementation of PID Assembly language was not suitable as it could not take fractional vales. This was a setback initially because we had planned all along to do our programming in Assembly language. So now another brainstorming session started for the selection of another language and after some research we were delighted to find that C-Language is a suitable replacement and hence C language became our language of choice for programming.

5.2 Programming
The basic task were to vary the speed of the motors in turn the propellers in order to make the Hover bot float, the motors were connected to the esc's, DC ESCs in the broader sense are PWM controllers for electric motors. The ESC generally accepts a nominal 50 Hz PWM servo input signal whose pulse width varies from 1 ms to 2 ms. When supplied with a 1 ms width pulse at 50 Hz, the ESC responds by turning off the DC motor attached to its output. A 1.5 ms pulse-width input signal results in a 50% duty cycle output signal that drives the motor at approximately half-speed. When presented with 2.0 ms input signal, the motor runs at full speed due to the 100% duty cycle (on constantly) output. We programmed the atmega32 to use the PWM channels to generate the desired wave form.

The 2nd task was to program for receiving the input through sensors which were interfaced with the AVR serial parallel interface(SPI),The Serial Peripheral Interface SPI - allows digital devices to communicate using only 4 wires, additional devices can be added to the same 'bus' with the addition of only a single selection wire for each device. Last but not the least we coded to implement the PID loop it was tedious job and had us our hands full with complex mathematics.

5.3 FLOW CHART


Below is shown the basic flow chart for the Hover Bot 1.0 program. The AVR takes input from the receiver to arm the motors. This input is a 1.1ms-1.7ms wide PWM pulse. This plus now arms the motors which is now ready for throttle. The controller now waits for another PWM wave that provides throttle to the motors. The greater the duty cycle of the wave greater the throttle is produced by the Hover Bot 1.0. the controller continuously waits for the an input from the receiver and takes the action as programmed

Figure 22: FLOW CHART FOR THE HOVER BOT 1.0 PROGRAMMING

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CHAPTER SIX 6.1 Future Enhancements


When we were presenting the proposal we had several things in mind that we wanted to do. Firstly we wanted to make the hover bot move on the ground, but due to budget constraints and facing difficulty in stabilizing the Bot during flight we had to give up this idea. Also the weight of the ground robot was a little too much for the Bot to take flight easily and this would have severely brought down flight time. In future we can put more powerful motors so that the Bot can easily take flight with a movable ground robot. We currently have no method of localization. This must be implemented in future iterations if we are to have any sort of swarming behavior and communication between multiple units. This will be helped in part by the addition of an altimeter, but a robust means of position localization (motion capture or GPS) will also be looked into.

Firepower target locking can be added to it for military purposes, system. With programming and using precise equipment the Hover Bot 1.0 can be made to perform extreme maneuvering capabilities.

The ground mobility can be greatly enhanced putting more robust wheels that can make the Hover Bot 1.0 overcome steep obstacles.

Night vision/thermal vision can also be introduced to make the HOVER BOT a state of the art military Reconnaissance and Spy drone.

ANNEXURE A 7.1 DATA SHEETS

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