Hi all, I'm a college student and I was assigned a project involving a quadcopter. I would appreciate any help this forum can offer as I don't know much about quadcopters other than watching some neat Youtube videos. This is a list of things that the quadcopter must be able to do: Fly in a flight pattern indefinitely, powered by a tether. Hand flight control over to a user when remote is used. Maintain an autonomous flight pattern when not controlled manually. Will have a "perch" or landing pad, which is to be attached to a second floor railing overlooking a large atrium (flight will occur indoors). If any problems occur, must be able to return to "perch" safely. Entire system must cost $400 or less (though I may be able to negotiate for more). Be able to upload custom programs. Not kill anyone. Now, the good news is, I'm not required to build a quadcopter from scratch, but I am basically responsible for getting all the right components/systems together. Personally, I feel that this project is not feasible and could turn into a huge liability issue (I'm thinking about what happens if this quadcopter loses control and careens into somebody's face). However, this is my task and I'm going to give it the "old college try." Can someone please send me in the right direction?
Fly in a flight pattern indefinitely, powered by a tether. Figure a smallish UAV (500mm frame) will need three to four motors, each drawing up to 20 amps of current, that's a total of 60 to 80 amps. Your tether wires will be 10 gauge, now add the length needed to fly your pattern and figure the weight of the wire the UAV has to carry.........best to use an on board battery and eliminate the tether. Not to mention the swinging aspect of the tether, this will be something the flight controller will have to compensate for. Hand flight control over to a user when remote is used. Possible, either dual remotes (ones a "trainer" the other a master) or APM type flight control (one is ground station the other remote). Maintain an autonomous flight pattern when not controlled manually. Possible, 3D Robotics APM is my favorite flight control for this.....but others are available. Will have a "perch" or landing pad, which is to be attached to a second floor railing overlooking a large atrium (flight will occur indoors). May be tricky indoors as you need GPS lock or optical sensors to accomplish this. If any problems occur, must be able to return to "perch" safely. If any problems occur, MAY be able to return to "perch" safely.......depends on the problem, motor, ESC, flight controller failure wont. Entire system must cost $400 or less (though I may be able to negotiate for more). Possible, but your going to have to shop carefully. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/index.asp is a good place to start, you can get inexpensive parts and "knock off" flight controllers from them...... Be able to upload custom programs. 3D robotics APM will allow this (I do not know if the Hobby King "knock offs will). Not kill anyone. Build a viewer / pilot "cage", if it falls or tries to hit people they are protected in the screened off (plexiglass) cage.
What college are you attending? Do you have a website for this project / class? Could you have your professor join the conversation here and explain the details of the projects goals? There are reasons I ask the above...............I may be able to help some more.
IceFyre, thanks a lot for your interest in this project. I attend Kansas State University. As of now, I don't have a website for the project or class and I don't think we'll be creating one in the future. I've posted in a number of different UAV forums and I'm getting a lot of the same kind of feedback. Basically, this project is not feasible as written. To become feasible, a number of the desired features will be severely limited and/or omitted. Not to mention, the department wants this project completed by May, which adds another stress dynamic entirely. I will meet with my team tomorrow and get a consensus on how we should proceed. Depending on their feedback, I will ask my professor if he wants to join in on this forum conversation. You mentioned that you might be able to help more; what do you have in mind?
I can assume your enrolled in one (or more) of the courses below; AVT270 Introduction to Unmanned Aircraft Systems AVT370 UAS Design AVT460 UAS Mission Planning and Operations AVT470 UAS Flight and Data Acquisition Lab If you have your professor contact me I may be able to send an tri-rotor airframe and some other parts to your course, (I would like to send this to the course instructor and school, it solves a few logistical issues). Get the professor to sign up and post here so I can contact him / her directly to set this up. This will then get most of your parts required so you can get the more expensive flight controllers like the 3D Robotics APM to be able to do the more complex aspects of your task.
No, I'm not enrolled in any of those programs. Those classes are taught at a technical school that is associated with our university. I'm studying electrical engineering and this is a bit of a capstone-type project. The department wants to use this thing as a recruiting tool for young impressionable minds going through the engineering tour. After meeting with the team today, we all discussed our concerns with the project and tried to talk through each one of the design criteria. We feel that the project is not feasible as it is written and we are going to try to persuade the department into putting more money into the project, go completely battery powered, and to use the UAV only outside (due to liability issues, I doubt the insurance company will allow an uncontrolled drone to fly indefinitely in a populated atrium). Essentially, we want to just buy an RTF machine that uses either the Pixhawk or the APM flight controller like the 3DR Iris+.
The Iris is a great Quad to start with on this project, hope you get the funding. Either the Pixhawk or the APM (my favorite) will do what you need as well. Let me know if you need any other assistance.
