Quadrocopter-research

The Quadrocopter Project

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= Research =

From Mordechai
ArduCopter

Make sure to check out DIY Drones, lots of projects related to autopilots. It is also the home for ArduPilot Mega which is a very full featured open source autopilot platform for RC airplanes. One part of the project that I find of particular interest is that it supports full "hardware-in-the-loop" simulation with Xplane and Flight Gear!

From Luc
Control of Quadrocopter - Vedran Sikiric

Control of Quadrocopter that will give you a headache - Samir BOUABDALLAH

Links to more complicated documents about the control of Quadrocopters

More Links about Control

From Guy
ArduCopter source code

There is also AeroQuad

Arducopter vs Aeroquad

Arduino limitations - a discussion on DIY Drones

Drift Compensation - Sparkfun forum

[http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/78608 Hybrid Fly-by-Wire Quadrotor Controller. M. Orsag, M. Poropat, S. Bogdan ]

A french paper

A paper about doing flips

propeller aerodynamics

Energy-efficient Autonomous Four-rotor Flying Robot Controlled at 1kHz

aggressive flying video



Stable flight logic

Accelerometer and Gyro Buying Guide from Sparkfun



Accelerometer and Gyro Integration

Accelerometer to pitch and roll

Kalman filter

Tilt Sensing Using Linear Accelerometers - Freescale

R/C Groups Mega Index

UAVXArm - A variation of UAVP using the LPC1768

Shrediquette

The Balance Filter

From Doug
Maths about accelerometers and gyros

From Normand
Regulation basics to advanced control
 * Info on PID model.
 * Info on RST model.
 * Interesting page at CERN. Check the "From regulation basics to advanced control" Powerpoint presentation.

From Jim
TheCrashCast.com and sister site AllThingsCrash. They have an Arduino system that uses wii parts


 * files for the build of the unit


 * the background for the build and steps

Parts from Hobby King
 * Turnigy 500 H3126 Brushless outrunner 1300KV $20


 * Turnigy L3015A-1000 Brushless Motor $16


 * Turnigy Park300 Brushless Outrunner 1380kv $12.07 (about the best)


 * Turnigy D2830-11 1000kv Brushless Motor $9.56 (the very best to use)


 * motor with speed control


 * propellers


 * Turnigy 4.5A-hr battery pack $36.35


 * Flat motors for quads motors just designed for quadcopters just came out from hobbyking $28.08 currently they are out of stock


 * on screen gps if you want to have positional data come over the video downlink


 * 750 kv motor 9.97 each


 * Specs:


 * Required Voltage: 11.1v
 * Suggested Battery Capacity: 1300mAh +
 * Suggested Prop: 11x3.8 or 11x4.7
 * Max current draw: 18A (with 11x4.7 prop)
 * Max thrust: 1000g+
 * No Load Current: 1.4A
 * Shaft: 4M (perfectly suited to Towerpor/GWS SF Slow Fly props)
 * Weight: 78g
 * Diameter: 41mm
 * Overall length: 77mm
 * Kv: 750rpm/v


 * the donkey 12.95 each


 * Specs:


 * RPM/v - 820kv
 * Dimensions: 51 x 23mm
 * Shaft - 6.0mm
 * Voltage - 11.1~14.8V
 * Weight - 194g
 * No-load current- 2.8a @ 11.1v
 * Max Current- 60A
 * Max Watts- 680W
 * Mounting Holes- 65mm


 * Prop Data:


 * 12x8 - 11.1v - 39a - 1750g Thrust
 * 11x5 - 14.8v - 44a - 2250g Thrust
 * 10x5 - 14.8v - 30a - 1850g Thrust

Battery packs Depending on what type of performance you are looking for you will need at least 4 small packs or 2 larger packs for powering the quad. if you go with 4 packs you will be paying a weight and flight time penalty as you cannot stay up when you run out of flight time, the best is a pair of packs in parallel going to a header that feeds all escs/motors from there

Here are some packs for suggested use


 * 3s 5000 mah 40C that is 5 amps x 40 this is a 11.4 v pack giving you 200 amp peak draw would need 2 in parallel if using them $48.19

this is a 11.4 v pack giving you 84 amp peak draw this you could run as individual esc / motor $14.99
 * 3s 2200 mah 40c that is 2.2 amps x 40


 * 2s 5000 mah 40c this is a 2 cell pack giving 8.4 v $23.66


 * 2s 2200 mah 40c this is a 2 cell pack giving 8.4v $9.49

From Michael G.
"You might want to check out the HMC5883L compass, it's the cheapest 3-axis i2c on digikey @ $4 per single... As well, the MMA8453 is the cheapest i2c 3-axis accelerometer @ $1.60 in singles..."