hardware overview autopilot control board- serves as common platform for other components and has...
TRANSCRIPT
Hardware Overview
• Autopilot Control Board- Serves as common platform for other components and has autopilot code and flight plans
• Battery- Powers the board and servos as well as motor• Modem/Antenna- Facilitate communications• Ground Control Station- Used to control UAV midflight• GPS- Used for altitude and navigating to waypoints• IR Sensors- Determines control movements• Motor and Controller- Manages the motor functioning• Servos- Adjust control surfaces
Autopilot Control Board (Tiny)
• The main control board is the Tiny v2.11 is the brain of the UAV and controls:• Servos (via Pulse-pulse-modulation)• Infrared sensors• GPS• Any applicable payload (CAM)
• The autopilot board design is released by and updated by the Paparazzi development team
Battery
• 2100mAh 11.1V Li-Poly battery• 6.1 – 18 VDC autopilot input voltage
Datalink Radio(Modem & Antenna)
• Autopilot – Groundstation communication• Serial channel
GPS Receiver
• Receiver & Antenna built into autopilot• uBlox LEA-4 serial receiver – 4Hz update
GPS configuration
• Proprietary control software
IR Sensors
• One x-y sensor + one z sensor• Each axis is a thermopile pair• Differential output from each pair
IR Sensor Modification
• Driven by 3.3V instead of 5V• Changes amplifier gain• Replace biasing resistors for unity gain
Motor & Controller
• Brushless motor and electronic speed control
Servos
• Hitec HS-55 servos
Payload
• We never officially implemented a payload, though this would not require extensive work
• Ostensibly, we would have added a camera to feed back images or video over the modem
• Due to data transmission rate limitations (9600 baudrate) any video taken would be of very low quality, though images could certainly be sent at a decent frequency
• Payload would likely be placed on the side of the modem transmitter beneath and partially embedded in a wing
Hardware Preparation
Custom Cables
Software Setup
• Paparazzi software requires Debian based Linux distribution• We used Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” for all
our testing
• Can build source locally or install prebuilt binary package
Install Bootloader
• Bootloader must be flashed to a new board before it can be programmed• Allows Tiny to be programmed via USB• Flashed via custom serial cable
• This procedure only needs to be done once per board
Program GPS Receiver
• Install GPS Tunnel Program to Tiny• Allows direct communication to GPS Receiver
• Program GPS using U-BLOX software• Uses custom serial cable• Software runs on Windows
Programming Autopilot
• Tiny is programmed directly from the Paparazzi software
• Configuration files are modified and tuned as required for a given configuration
• Direct USB connection to Tiny