Curtis Co, Isaac Jones May 4th, 2011

Transcription

1 Curtis Co, Isaac Jones May 4th, 2011 Dr. Cripps Department of Electrical Engineering Utah State University Dr. Cripps, Our engineering team has studied how we can further improve an already-built quadcopter. Its previous performance was reasonably undesirable; it was difficult to control take-off, in-flight, and landing situations. We strongly believed these problems were related to its weight, software, and mechanical design. Attached is our final report on how we dealt with this quadcopter project. Our project included the following tasks: to improve the stabilization by means of mechanical and software approaches, and a total redesign of the frame of the quadcopter to make it lighter in terms of weight. Additionally, we installed a video camera onto the quadcopter. These three upgrades improved the quadcopter s overall performance, increase its entertainment factor, and added more functionality to the quadcopter. The project took from January to May to complete. We appreciate you taking your time to read our final report. Our engineering team looks forward to hearing your response about our project. Sincerely, Curtis Co Isaac Jones

2 Quadcopter Construction and Stabilization Senior Project Final Report Curtis Co & Isaac Jones ECE /4/12 Instructor Approval. Dr. Cripps Department of Electrical Engineering Utah State University

3 Acknowledgements This project has been a great experience. We had ups and downs, times of excitement, and times of difficulty. We would like to acknowledge certain people for their assistance. We give thanks to Laura Vernon for helping us stay organized with the paperwork, and offering tips on how to add persuasive elements. We give thanks to Dr. Cripps for his support and encouragement during this project. You are constantly making sure that we are moving along. We give thanks to Tom Co for his assistance in the 3D modeling program design, and manufacture of frame parts. We give thanks to Hazen Pett for his assistance in software code troubleshooting so that the quadcopter could properly operate i

4 Abstract In the recent years, there has been a rising interest in quadcopters and its applications. The focuses of this project are to reconstruct a quadcopter with aerial video photography capability, and to use a gyroscope and accelerometer from Wii products to implement an auto-leveling mode which maintains horizontal balance and constant altitude. This report will go over the engineering design approach and system flow of the quadcopter in detail. The quadcopter was designed in Autodesk Inventor, a 3D modeling software. Design optimizations in the program will be shown through rendered visuals. A rugged frame was designed to withstand rough impact. The software coding was done in C language, and much support for coding quadcopters was found online in the troubleshooting and testing stage of the project. Cost estimations and management of the project will be presented, and the report will end with closing remarks about the overall consensus of this quadcopter project. ii

5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements... i Abstract... ii List of Tables... v List of Figures... vi 1.0 Introduction Review of Conceptual and Preliminary Design Basic Solution Description System Flow Overview Electrical System Hardware Relationships Alternative Camera Choices Wiring Diagrams Detailed Design of Frame Components D Modeling Weight and Material Strengths Design Optimizations Project Implementation/Operation and Assessment Final Scope of Work Statement Other Issues Stress testing Camera Oscillations Trims Cost Estimation Original Cost Estimation Actual cost of Project Estimated vs Actual Cost Comparison Man-hours Project Management Summary Gantt Chart Personnel Conclusion iii

6 Appendix iv

7 List of Tables Table 1: Estimated Budget Table 2: Quadcopter Parts and Costs Table 3: Support Equipment v

8 List of Figures Figure 1: Original Quadcopter... 1 Figure 2: Project Approach... 3 Figure 3: System Flow Overview... 4 Figure 4: Camera... 5 Figure 5: Remote Control Transmitter... 6 Figure 6: Locations of Connector Pins and ESCs... 7 Figure 7: Arming the Quadcopter... 7 Figure 8: Locations of the Trims and Stabilization Mode Switch... 8 Figure 9: Joystick Axis Functions... 9 Figure 10: Disarming the Quadcopter Figure 11: Electrical Hardware Relationships Figure 12: Camera Details Figure 13: Arduino Pro Mini Figure 14: Remote Control Reciever Figure 15: Main Board Bottom View Figure 16: Main Board Top View Figure 17: Battery Figure 18: Breakout Board Figure 19: Electronic Speed Controller Figure 20: Brushless Motor Figure 21: LinkSprite JPEG Color Camera Figure 22: Accelerometer to Gryroscope Wiring Diagram Figure 23: Gyroscope, Battery, and ESC to Microcontroller Wiring Diagram Figure 24: Full View of 3D Design Figure 25: Basic Quadcopter Diagram Figure 26: Quadcopter without Stabilization Bars Figure 27: Quadcopter with Stabilization Ba Figure 28: Camera Location Figure 29: Original Gantt Chart Figure 30: Updated Gantt Chart vi

9 1.0 Introduction This final report is about improving an already-built quadcopter that can be seen in Figure 1. The need for stability in maneuvering quadcopters is very important because without it, the quadcopter is doomed to crash. The already-built quadcopter our engineering team desired to upgrade was under par in this aspect. In this final report the engineering design to overcome this problem will be presented. Figure 1: Original Quadcopter The quadcopter, and also commonly known as a quadrotor, has become quite popular in the past few years. A quadcopter is comparable to a helicopter, but has four motor-powered propellers instead of one. Quadcopters have become great for entertainment uses, aerial photography and video capturing. Stabilization and good flying performance of a quadcopter is required to achieve these purposes. The stabilization system for quadcopters includes a gyroscope and an accelerometer sensor which are controlled by a microcontroller. Our engineering team upgraded the already-built quadcopter so that it met high standards of stabilization and performance. The format of this final report will be to first define the specific problems with the quadcopter. Then, then move on to presenting the approach to overcome the problems. Next, the system overview of the quadcopter will be presented in detail. After, design specifications will be discussed. Afterward, we will go over cost estimations and project management. To end, we will add our concluding remarks about the overall project. 1

10 2.0 Review of Conceptual and Preliminary Design This section will briefly cover the organization of tasks to approach this project. Figure 2 shows the tasks needed to be done and the relationships between each task. The tasks are broken down into the following: 1. To research effective quadcopter designs and common materials used. 2. 3D CAD Drawing- To redesign mechanical design of the quadcopter for better physical stability, rigidity, and lighter weight. First, measurements on the current quadcopter will be taken to ensure that the redesign will be a compatible upgrade. A prototype of the design will be created in a 3D-modeling software program and then manufactured. 3. Camera Shopping- to do research on video cameras in terms of size, weight, power source, and price for acceptable use on quadcopters. 4. Assembly- to install a camera onto the quadcopter and assemble all the components of the quadcopter frame. Electrical components are also to be transferred into the assembly. 5. Software Coding and Test Flight- To troubleshoot the software code on the microcontroller in order to improve operating performance. Stabilization mode will also be enhanced. Simultaneously, test runs on the quadcopter will be performed to test stabilization. 2

11 Figure 2: Project Approach 3

12 3.0 Basic Solution Description This section goes over the system flow and hardware of the quadcopter. 3.1 System Flow Overview The system flow overview of the quadcopter can be seen in Figure 3. A detailed description of Figure 32 will be discussed. Figure 3: System Flow Overview Before the launch of the quadcopter, there is a checklist required to be done which is called the Pre-Launch stage. The Pre-Launch stage consists of the following: 1. Mechanical parts inspection: This is where the physical checkups of the quadcopter are performed. These checks include: Ensuring all the screws are tightened. They may have been loosened from previous flights or crashes. 4

13 Propellers are securely tightened. Landing gear is securely fastened. 2. Charged camera and charged battery: The camera needs to be fully charged by though a USB cable and the quadcopter battery must be charged though its dedicated charger pin. Both products have a battery life of approximately 15 minutes. 3. Camera On: To turn the camera on, push the big orange button labeled on/off (refer to Figure 4). A red light will turn on, indicating that it is in standby mode. Next, push and hold the orange button labeled photo/rec for 3 seconds. The red light will now begin to blink on and off, indicating that video is now recording. The camera will be on during the entire flight until upon landing. The camera operates independently of the microcontroller found on the quadcopter. Red LED Figure 4: Camera 4. Turn on the Transmitter: This is done by flipping the on/off switch on the remote control transmitter (Figure 5). A green LED will light up on the transmitter. This step MUST be done before step 5 to ensure connectivity between the transmitter and receiver. 5

14 Green LED On/Off Switch Parkflyer.ru Figure 5: Remote Control Transmitter 5. Turn on the Microcontroller: This is done by plugging in the battery connecter pin to the power receiver connecter pin as shown in Figure 6. After plugging it in,a few beeping sounds will instantly go off for a few seconds (sounds come from the ESCs (electronic speed controllers)). Simultaneously, the propellers will slightly twitch to indicate that the quadcopter is ready for further instructions. Once the Pre-Launch stage is completed, the quadcopter system can move on to the Launch stage. 6

15 ESCs Battery Connector Pin Power Receiver Connector Pin Figure 6: Locations of Connector Pins and ESCs Launching the quadcopter first requires that the quadcopter be in armed mode. Armed mode means that the motors will operate if the throttle from the transmitter is applied. To activate armed mode, move the left joystick on the transmitter to the bottom right (Figure 7). Once armed, a green LED will stay lit on the microcontroller main board. Next, trims on the transmitter will need to be adjusted for balance (Figure 8). Multiwiicopter.com Multiwiicopter.com Figure 7: Arming the Quadcopter 7

16 Throttle Trimmer Stabilization Mode Switch Pitch Trimmer Yaw Trimmer Roll Trimmer Figure 8: Locations of the Trims and Stabilization Mode Switch The quadcopter is manually controlled in-air using the joysticks on the transmitter (Figure 9). Location 1 controls the yaw, which changes the direction by moving the nose of the quadcopter left and right. Location 2 controls the motor speed to make the quadcopter go up or down. Location 3 controls the roll, which makes the quadcopter tilt to either side. Location 4 controls the pitch, which makes the quadcopter move forward or backward. Once the quadcopter is in the air, the quadcopter can be switched into stabilization mode (location 5 in Figure 9). Stabilization mode turns off manual control of the quadcopter and uses the accelerometer and gyroscope connected to the microcontroller to maintain constant balance. This mode can be entered and exited at any time while the quadcopter is inflight. 8

17 rchelicopteruniverse.com Figure 9: Joystick Axis Functions Finally, when the quadcopter has landed on the ground and no more flying is desired, the Land stage is entered. In the Land stage a few steps must be taken to shut down the copter. 1. Disarm: Disarmed mode means that the motors will not operate if the throttle from the transmitter is applied. To activate disarmed mode, move the left joystick on the transmitter to the bottom left (refer to Figure 10). 2. Unplug the power source: This is done by unplugging in the battery connecter pin from the power receiver connecter pin 3. Turn off the transmitter: This is done by flipping the on/off switch on the remote control transmitter. The green LED will turn off on the transmitter. 4. Turn off the camera: Press the orange button labeled photo/rec. This will stop the camera from recording. Then, press the big orange button labeled on/off to turn off the camera. 9

18 Multiwiicopter.com Multiwiicopter.com Figure 10: Disarming the Quadcopter 3.2 Electrical System Hardware Relationships The input and output relationships of each hardware component to the main board are shown in Figure 11. A detailed explanation of Figure 11 will be in this section. Figure 11: Electrical Hardware Relationships All hardware functionalities are described in terms of the main board, where the microcontroller is located. The main board is a product called the PARIS v3.0 Aerial Photography MultiWiiCopter board. 10

19 The camera used is an independently operating camera. It has no connection to the main board and has to be operated manually to turn on/off and to record. The camera used in this project is called the Dice Mini Camera. Its specifications include: Size: 1 w x 1 h x 1 l Video Resolution: 30fps Record time: 15 minutes Night vision by using 4 infrared LEDS (Figure 12) MICROSDCard (the capacity can be used up to 32GB) Figure 12: Camera Details The microcontroller on the main board is the component that connects all the hardware together. The microcontroller used in this project is called the Arduino Pro Mini which operates at a voltage of 5V and computes at a speed of 5 MHz (Figure 13). The Arduino Pro Mini is a common microcontroller used on quadcopters because of its small size (0.7" x 1.3") and relatively low cost (see section 8 for cost of materials). Figure 13: Arduino Pro Mini 11

20 The remote control transmitter and receiver both operate at 6-channel 2.4 GHz. The reciever (Figure 14) recieves the wireless data transmitted from the transmitter and sends it to the microcontroller for computation. Figure 14: Remote Control Reciever The gyroscope and accelerometer come from the Wii Motion Plus and Wii Nunchuck, respectively. These products were chosen because of the cheap price due to the popularity of Wii products. Other gyroscopes and accelerometers were found to be more expensive. The accelerometer is wired up to the gyroscope, and the gyroscope is wired up to the microcontroller. Refer to section 3.4 for specifications on the connection of wiring pins. On the bottom of the main board, the accelerometer is taped there and its wires are fed up to the top of the board through a hole (Figure 15). On the top of the main board, the microcontroller and gyroscope are taped there (Figure 16). 12

21 Figure 15: Main Board Bottom View Figure 16: Main Board Top View The battery used is a 2200mAh Lipo battery (Figure 17). This battery gives power to the microcontroller and to the motors through the ESCs. Its battery life on this quadcopter is minutes. 13

22 Figure 17: Battery To interface with the microcontroller using the computer, the SparkFun FTDI Basic Breakout Board, which is the red component in Figure 18, is used for USB connection. Figure 18: Breakout Board The only independent outputs from the main board are the ESCs (electronic speed controllers). There are a total of four ESCs on the quadcopter, each respectively controlling one of the four motors. 14

23 An ESC is three phase electric powered (Figure 19).The ESC takes data signals from the microcontroller that then varies the speed of the electric brushless motor, providing an electronically-generated three phase electric power low voltage source of energy for the motor (Figure 20). Attached to the motor shaft is a propeller blade (in this case, made of plastic) which spins at the rate of the motor shaft. Figure 19: Electronic Speed Controller Figure 20: Brushless Motor 15

24 3.3 Alternative Camera Choices For determining how the video camera was going to work, simplicity, cost, and functionality were the key factors. It was difficult deciding whether hooking up a camera to the microcontroller, or to use an independent-functioning device was the better choice. It was decided to go with an independentfunctioning video camera. For a stand-alone video camera priced around $40, there were cameras that could record HD video. They were small in size and weight and used micro SD cards to store data. This quadcopter project currently uses an Arduino microcontroller, and only one available camera that could interface with the microcontroller was found. This camera, called the LinkSprite Camera, costs about $50 plus shipping and with all its necessary components totals to $76.40 (Figure 21: LinkSprite JPEG Color Camera). It can only support JPEG capturing. The reason why there are so few cameras built to interface with the Arduino microcontroller is because this microcontroller does not have the speed and memory to move data around for high quality picture and video capturing. Therefore, a stand-alone video camera was better option. LinkSprite JPEG Color Camera 5-pin JST Connector MicroSD Data Logger Top Bottom + + = $76.40 Sparkfun.com $49.9 Sparkfun.com $1.5 $24.9 Sparkfun.com Figure 21: LinkSprite JPEG Color Camera 3.4 Wiring Diagrams This section covers the wiring necessary to connect the accelerometer, gyroscope, and microcontroller. In Figure 22, the bottom component is the gyroscope and the top component is the 16

25 accelerometer. This figure shows what direction these components need to be oriented at and the wiring connections between them. Figure 22: Accelerometer to Gryroscope Wiring Diagram In Figure 23, connections between the gyroscope, battery, and ESCs to the microcontroller is seen. The battery powers the ESCs, and the ESCs power the microcontroller. Each ESC has to be placed in certain pins for correct orientation. 17

26 Figure 23: Gyroscope, Battery, and ESC to Microcontroller Wiring Diagram 18

27 4.0 Detailed Design of Frame Components This section covers the design of the quadcopter frame components, and the assembly of those components to describe the design of this project D Modeling The components of the quadcopter frame were designed in a 3D modeling software called Autodesk Inventor. In this section, pictures of the quadcopter frame design will be discussed with a description of specific design features. Figure 24 shows an assembled view of the components in Autodesk Inventor. Figure 24: Full View of 3D Design 4.2 Weight and Material Strengths The first part of the design was tackling the weight issues and material strengths. Aluminum alloy- A very lightweight metal used for the construction of the four arm channels (refer to Figure 25: Basic Quadcopter Diagram). 19

28 Fiberglass- Fiberglass plates were used to create the center frame, where the microcontroller, battery, camera, and landing gear are located. Fiberglass is known for being very lightweight and extremely strong. Carbon fiber material was considered because of its slightly higher strength properties, but the cost led us away. We avoided using wood for the center frame, which was used on the original quadcopter. Wood weighs much more than metal and is not as durable. Wood can be effected by the physical environment such as rain. Wood is also soft, which is bad when tightening screws. Plastic- The landing gear consisted of four plastic springs with landing skids tied to them to evenly absorb landing impact. The parts will be placed together so that the balance of the center of gravity rests in the center frame. Figure 25: Basic Quadcopter Diagram 20

29 4.3 Design Optimizations In preventing perceived twisting motion in the arm channels caused by the motors(figure 26), stabilization bars were added to counteract the twisting force (Figure 27). This twisting motion would cause damage to the arm channels and would make a very shaky flight. This twisting motion would only occur once the motors were spinning after a certain speed. The stabilization bars that were added only added 100g of weight to the quadcopter and completely stopped noticable twisting motion. Strong up lift force handling Connection points between center frame and arm channels = 2 for each arm Weak from twisting motion caused by the spinning motor Figure 26: Quadcopter without Stabilization Bars 21

30 Maintain strong up lift force handling Connecting points = 4 for each arm Stabilization bars are added Stabilization bars are added Stronger side force handling Twisting motion is minimized Figure 27: Quadcopter with Stabilization Ba The video camera on the quadcopter is angled 30 degrees down from the horizontal axis to avoid part of the quadcopter from showing up in the video. Angling the camera down also gives a great viewing angle as quadcopters fly up really high, it is desirable to be able to view the scenery on the ground. In Figure 28 the scope of video camera can be seen. The location of the camera is maintains the center-balanced weight distribution. 22

31 Figure 28: Camera Location 23

32 5.0 Project Implementation/Operation and Assessment This will include the troubleshooting tests done, and code-related troubleshooting. The software used is an open-source code from the MultiWiicopter community. The code has had its pros and cons in the project. Every quadcopter is different and the designs can vary greatly from additional hardware that is connected to the system to the size and weight of the quadcopter. Using the most recent software, the quadcopter has shown that the configuration had to be altered only slightly. The internal pull-up resistors used on the Arduino Pro-mini board were too large, 10KΩ, and 4 external 2.2kΩ were used which gave us a stronger signal on the lines to the arduino. The hardest part of the open-source code used was understanding the functionality and how it would affect our quadcopter. After understanding the code and its features there were minimal changes necessary to make. The majority of changes were made in the code file where specifications for the project s setup and style of quadcopter. Utilizing the graphical user interface, GUI, it was possible to see the changes and effects of the code alterations we made. Another great advantage of the GUI is the ability to see how the transmitter or controls are received and interpreted by the system. In this case it became necessary to obtain a different transmitter that utilized digital trims. The digital transmitter would allowed more precision in trimming the flight controls of the quadcopter. Before, using an analog transmitter and the trims weren t effective enough to stabilize the attitude of the quadcopter. Each flight the trimming procedure cut into our flight time and ability to use the system effectively as an aerial photography platform. The new transmitter allowed saving settings on internal memory located on the transmitter including the trims that were used on previous successful flights. 24

33 6.0 Final Scope of Work Statement This section summarizes what has been completed, what still needs to be done, and what can be done to further improve the quadcopter. This project completed a working quadcopter with aerial video photography. From the start of camera shopping and 3D modeling to actual flying, the project completed all the phases proposed to be completed. What still needs to be done is fixing vibrations noticed in the video footage. Further possible improvements to the quadcopter include: Adding more sensors to improve the auto-leveling mode, such as a GPS to maintain constant location, and a magnetometer to maintain constant orientation. Adding more sensors to improve quadcopter applications, such as temperature sensors. The total weight of the quadcopter is 1300 grams. This is a bit heavier for most quadcopters of its size, but it is because of the stronger, heavier motors that exist on the quadcopter, giving the quadcopter a max payload of 1.5 kilograms. 25

34 7.0 Other Issues with. This section will go over special issues encountered during this project, and how they were dealt 7.1 Stress testing Stress tests on the new quadcopter frame design would have been nice to have done. This would have helped the design in seeing what areas of the quadcopter would be susceptible to failure. For example, stabilization bars had to be added after the quadcopter design was completed. If stress tests were done, it would have been obvious that there needed to be some adjustment to the design to serve the same function as the stabilization bars. This would have saved one or two weeks worth of delay adding stabilization bars. 7.2 Camera Oscillations There exists vibrations from the motors that shakes the entire quadcopter frame. These vibrations are not visually noticeable, but when playing back recorded video footage, the footage has horizontal oscillations due to the vibration. Many efforts were done to try to fix this problem. The first method was to decrease the vibrations from the motors by balancing the propellers and motors using prop balancers and other methods proposed by online forums. This did decrease the vibrations, but not a big enough difference to stop the distortion in the video footage. The second method was to adjust the camera mount. The first adjustment was to cut the arm mount shorter, thinking that the arm mount was too long, causing the camera to jump up and down from the vibrations. After doing this the oscillations in the video footage was worse. It was because the shortening of the arm mount made the transfer of vibrations more significant. Therefore, the team decided to somehow create a discontinuous connection between the quadcopter frame and the camera, to somehow suspend the camera under the quadcopter so that all the vibrations would be absorbed in 26

35 the connection point, causing no transfer of vibrations from the quadcopter frame to the camera. It was decided that a spring can be used as the connection part between the quadcopter frame and camera. This method did stop the vibration transfer, but introduced a new problem, which was visually noticeable, long-lasting bounciness from the spring whenever the quadcopter moved. Currently, this problem is still being worked on and different spring configurations are being tested for the best results. 7.3 Trims Trims on the remote control transmitter had problems with precision. When trims were manually adjusted, they would often not be registered, creating a difficult time having good enough balance to take-off. After much testing without good results, the team decided to invest in a new digital remote control transmitter, costing $200. This now fixed the problem of adjusting trims and allowing a much easier time to take-off the quadcopter. 27

36 8.0 Cost Estimation This section covers the predicted cost estimates and actual total expenses of this project. 8.1 Original Cost Estimation The original budget estimation for this project was $150. Most quadcopter kits cost well over $200, so this budget estimation was a reasonable amount. A basic breakdown of estimated items needed to be purchased are presented in Table 1. Mechanical hardware includes the purchase of fiberglass plates, U-shaped aluminum channels, nuts, bolts, and washers. A $40-quality, small HD video camera was planned to be of well quality for the quadcopter. An allocated amount $90 was set aside for any of the parts that would get broken, such as a propeller snapping from a crash, a damaged motor, or extra screws, washers, and nuts. Table 1: Estimated Budget Item Price Mechanical Hardware $20 Small HD Video Camera $40 Replacement Parts $90 Total Estimated Cost $150 28

37 8.2 Actual cost of Project One of the key aims of this project was to keep product purchases at low costs. A complete list of hardware used in this project to build the quadcopter is presented in Table 2. The materials used from the old project were not considered in the total cost of this project, but is still shown in the table for reference. Table 2: Quadcopter Parts and Costs ITEM QTY Noun Part Number Unit Cost Total Cost Cost from Old Copter 1 4 Alum U bar 0.393x $1.13 $ Main Board PARIS v3.0 $12.95 $ Gyroscope Wii MotionPlus $19.95 $ Accelerometer Wii Nunchuk $14.95 $ Micro Controller Arduino Pro-Mini $18.95 $ Platfrom2 CO self-fabricated 4 1 Battery $11.75 $ Protector CO self-fabricated 6 2 Skid CO self-fabricated 9 1 Mini Dice Camera 86P-988 $40.70 $ Screw ms $8.65 $ Washer Flat MS $0.55 $ Nut AS8600B $1.51 $ Washer Flat NAS620-5 $0.36 $ Screw MS $1.36 $ Nut NAS620-5 $0.36 $ Screw 91735A154 $0.20 $ Propeller 10X6 $2.16 $ Propeller (Pusher) 10X6 $3.93 $ Brushless Motor Turnigy L2215J-900 $12.19 $ Bracket Camera Mounting 3 CO self-fabricated 22 4 Protector Blade CO self-fabricated 23 4 Spacer Long self-fabricated self-fabricated 24 1 Camera Screw 86P-988 come with item Skid Rail Rod CO self-fabricated 31 2 Nut Plate NAS671C4 $1.00 $ Screw MS $8.65 $ Jack Nut 4-40 $0.10 $ Screw inch 91772A116 $0.10 $ Screw 3-4 inch A113 $0.16 $ Cable Clamp NAS1397R7B 2 $0.14 $ Alum Stabilize Bar2 CO $1.01 $ Screw 3/ A113 $0.16 $ Battery Bracket Locking CO self-fabricated $ $

38 The equipment bought that was not used in building the quadcopter are presented in Table 3. These materials are from the previous quadcopter and are not included in the total cost of the project. Table 3: Support Equipment Item QTY Noun Total Cost 1 1 Battery Charger/Balancer $ FTDI USB Tiny Programmer $ Servo Extension Leads $ Electronic Speed Controller $ GHz Transmitter and Receiver $ Nylon T-Connectors Male/Female $ Misc Wire $5.95 $ Estimated vs Actual Cost Comparison The estimated cost of $150 compared the the actual cost of $ was fairly reasonable. 8.4 Man-hours This project spanned from January 9, 2012 to May 3, 2012, totaling to 17 weeks of work. Approximately 10 hours a week per person in the engineering team contributed to this project. Since there were a total of two people in this team, the total amount of man-hours for this project was 17 x 10 = 170 hours. 30

39 9.0 Project Management Summary Our project spanned from January 2012 to April 2012, totaling to four months. This section covers how the team members managed time and tasks for this project. 9.1 Gantt Chart The project management was split into key parts with each having a start and finish chart. The software called Gantt Project was used in order to construct a Gantt that for this project. The Gantt chart played a big role in keeping track of what had been done and what still needed to be done. Figure 29: Original Gantt Chart shows the original proposed Gantt chart. Figure 30 shows the actual Gantt chart by the end of the project. Figure 29: Original Gantt Chart 31

40 Figure 30: Updated Gantt Chart 9.2 Personnel Our team consists of two individuals, Curtis Co and Isaac Jones. Curtis is pursuing a Master s Degree in Electrical Engineering. He has maintained a high GPA score with a current GPA of His specialty classes that he has taken include: Digital Signal Processing, and Microcontroller Interfacing. Currently vice president of the IEEE council at USU, he contributes to planning educational activities to fellow electrical engineering students. In addition, his skills in Autodesk Inventor contributed to this project to create 3D models of prototypes. Isaac Jones is pursuing a Bachelor s Degree in Electrical Engineering. He is currently the treasurer for the IEEE council at USU, keeping track of budget so that everything goes smoothly. His experience in construction work helped to make sufficient design improvements to the quadcopter. His past experience in microcontroller interfacing also was of great use in this project. 32

41 10.0 Conclusion Building a quadcopter from top to bottom has been lots of work, yet lots of fun. To have completed this project with a well-functioning quadcopter has been a great delight. Using Autodesk inventor saved a lot of time in the building process of the quadcopter. The testing phase was by far the most difficult part of the project. It is because every quadcopter is so different, that it requires to observe so many variables in order to tweak it just right for perfect flying. This project opened up many eyes in the public during the demo night (May 3 rd, 2012) to the capabilities of what quadcopters can achieve. The engineering approach of this project and engineering team delivered a well-performing quadcopter. By attacking weight and stability issues through a new mechanical design and software troubleshooting, we greatly improved the overall performance of the quadcopter. With the addition of attaching an HD video camera, the entertainment factor of the copter drastically increased. Our budget was reasonably low and the time management to complete the project was optimized. The quadcopter was constructed with minimal costs for a simple, yet robust frame design. The high definition video was well complemented with the auto-leveling mode. The auto-leveling mode assisted in eliminating continuous manual attention. Further upgrades can be added onto the quadcopter, such as a GPS, temperature sensing, and more. Quadcopters will play a big role in the future and the group in this project is glad to be a part of it. 33

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