Name : Kevin

NPM : 1706064694
Major : Electrical Engineering
Subject : Control Engineering (Homework 1)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

Drone/Quadcopter/Hexacopter

Nowadays, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is one of the advance technologies which
developed by the engineer. This technology mostly uses the concept of control engineering in
its application. Drone is one of the examples used as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
technology. This drone is used for many applications. Mostly, the drone currently is usually
used for aerial photography and videography. Not only that, drone currently is also developed
for the advance function such as mapping, picking and dropping the thing, extinguishing fire,
etc.

So, the drone itself use 2 method of control: autonomous control and manual control.
For the autonomous system, the drone works based on the program that has been set in its flight
controller and microcontroller, such as Pixhawk, Odroid, etc. Then, the user does not need to
control the drone. The user can only monitor the data of the drone like the direction, speed,
height through the PC or other device which send through the telemetry. For the manual
control, the user needs to control the drone through Remote Control (RC). So, the drone is
equipped by the RC Receiver.

For explaining the concept of the control engineering in the drone in detail, let us take
the example of autonomous control for picking and dropping the thing. So, for doing its
mission, the drone is equipped with so many components, such as camera, LIDAR (Light
Detection and Ranging), flight controller, microcontroller, propeller, servo, motor, ESC
(Electronic Speed Controller), PDB (Power Distribution Board), GPS (Global Positioning
System), RTK (Real Time Kinematic), telemetry safety switch, battery, and so many
components based on what the user need. The power of the drone comes from the battery.
Then, the power is distributed to the PDB as the power source for the other component like
ESC and the flight controller. Then, all of the component in the drone is controlled by the flight
controller. The ESC is used to control the speed of the propeller. GPS and RTK are used to
determine and correct the position of the drone precisely.

From the first mission, the drone is taking off from the helipad or the other base until
the height set by the user through the code of program. To determine the height the of the drone,
it read from the data send by LIDAR. The LIDAR itself use the concept of wave reflection
using light. Then, when the height is same with the code, then the flight controller will control
the ESC to reduce the speed of the propeller. Then, the drone will be going to the position set
in the Mission Planner (the application which is usually used for monitoring the condition of
the drone) using GPS. After it arrive at the location, then it uses the camera and process it as
image processing to detect the location of the thing which want to be picked by the drone. And
also, some drone use RTK to correct the position of the drone. If the camera failed to determine
the position the thing which will be picked by the drone, the RTK will send the feedback to the
flight controller to help the drone get the precise position.

After the drone get the position, then the drone will control the flap using servo to pick
the thing by closing its flap. Before closing its flap, the drone will be going down firstly until
the position is ideal to close the flap and catch the that thing. After catching the thing, then the
drone will be going up and dropping it to the position set by the user by opening the flap. Then,
it will be going back to the helipad or it can be also done using the Return to Launch (RTL)
mode. Then, the drone will search the point of location when it is taking off. Then, after reach
the home position, the drone will reduce the height until it is landing perfectly.

From that explanation, we know that the control engineering takes the vital role in the
drone. Through the concept of control engineering, the drone can be controlled in autonomous
mode. So, the user does not need to control the drone using Remote Control (RC). So, it can
make the system of drone become easier. The autonomous drone that implement the control
engineering can do the mission by itself by self-detecting and calculating the condition and the
area through the sensor and the other electrical component. So, that is the advantages of the
control in the drone. Talking about the disadvantages, we should already know that answer by
the previous explanation. If the control does not exist in the drone system, the autonomous
mode cannot exist. Moreover, the drone cannot undergo its mission because all the electrical,
programming, and mechanic are connected through the control system. So, it is the biggest
disadvantage if the drone does not implement the control system that the drone cannot do its
mission or even the drone cannot take-off and move.

The problem that may arise if there is no control has been explained in the previous
explanation. The drone cannot do its mission or even the worst case is the drone cannot take-
off. Then, even if there is control in the drone system, several problems may also arise in many
factors. The example come from its autonomous mode without the intervention of the user
when it is running. The programming code in the microcontroller or the SBC (Single Board
Computer) can have some bug in its source code that sometimes it is too difficult to be solved.
Consequently, the process may be running out of what the user wants. The problem that may
arise also can come when the drone faces some problem like hit the other barricade, but the
sensor is failed to detect that. The user cannot control it because it is in autonomous mode
(unless the user is stand by holding the RC to change the mode from autonomous to manual
mode).