Autonomous Quadcopter
July 2020 - Present
The objective of this independent project is to use sensors and an embedded microprocessor to construct and code a flight controller for a quadcopter. The final goal is a functioning autonomous quadcopter that can hover a set height from the ground, above a specific location. I undertook this project with the desire to learn embedded programming and coding in C++, along with sensor integration and filtering to analyze raw sensor data.
MATLAB Simulation
First, I wrote a simulation on MATLAB to simulate the quadcopter dynamics and controls in response to a desired input path. This simulation employed a cascaded PID controller to control the hovering of the quadcopter above its starting x-y location. I wanted to write this simulation so that I could tune the PID values and get a visual of how I could expect the quadcopter to behave subject to the controls I wrote. The structure of the MATLAB simulation is shown below.
Hover Animation
I animated the results of the MATLAB simulation in Blender. The maneuver set point I chose here was to hover at 1.5m.
Hop Animation
In order to further demonstrate the MATLAB simulation, I changed the target quadcopter motion to hover, translate to the right, then land. I also animated these MATLAB simulation results.
More Work To Come!
I'm still working on completing this project, so stay tuned for more updates!