autonomous quadcopter using ardupilot mega

Basic Outline of my Project:

Aim:

                To make a autonomous quadcopter.

Materials Required:

1.       Quadcopter frame including motors, ESCs and propeller.

-          Accelerometers

-          Gyroscope

-          Compass

-          Quad frame

-          Propellers

2.       6+ channel RC transmitter and receiver.

-          Turnigy9x

-          Or Xbee controllers

3.       Autopilot hardware with GPS module

-          Pixihawk

-          Or Ardupilot Mega 2.6 Board

4.       LiPo batteries and charger

5.       Ground station with Mission Planner software

-          Laptop or any PC

-          Mission Planner software for guiding the copter

6.       3DR Radio Telemetry*

Procedure:

While I was doing this project I thought about breaking this projects into various phases:

PHASE 1: (codename:BETA)

1)      In this phase the basic quadcopter structure is to be built.

2)      It will have Ardupilot Mega (APM) board as its main functional core.

3)      It will NOT be autonomous in BETA.

4)      It will have all basic functions.

5)      Gyro, compass will be implemented.

PHASE 2: (codename:Alpha a.k.a BABY)

1)      In this phase there will be no or least hardware changes from BETA (if required).

2)      Codes will be put int APM.

3)      First autonomous flight will be done indoors.

4)      All bugs and problems will be recorded and also resolved.

5)      First video is planned to be uploaded to YouTube.

PHASE 3: (codename: VIper)

1)      Time for some fresh air. First outdoor flight to be carried out.

2)      Mission planners established.

3)      Small 10 minute flight is planned.

4)      Maximum 50m height is planned.

5)      All possible outcomes are observed.

PHASE 4: (codename:Sniper)

1)      Installation of camera.

2)      Making it weight friendly for FPV.

3)      Storage will be an on board SD card.

4)      It will be able to judge its flight on the basis of available charge on its battery.

PHASE 5: (codename:Pegasus)

1)      Implementation of AI

2)      Making an android app for notification from Pegasus.

3)      Able to follow any flying object i.e kite,bird,etc . (implementation of motion detection and object tracking abilities on sniper)

…detailed procedures will be availableafter successful completion of BETA phase.

Conclusion:

1)      The phases may seem as simple stages but as I think that each phase has the need to be broken into further sub-stages.

2)      It is planned upto Sniper phase. Pegasus will only be made if the time persists.

3)      In each and every stages the observations are to be made so that the instruments and tools used are least damaged in this project.

Getting your machine/system or PC java-ready:

Various newbies face a typical problem this days, they when start coding face some difficulties in setting up JAVA in windows.
I will help you out with a simple and easy method of installing java.
Step 1: Get the JDK or the Java Development Kit (wiki here) from JAVA oracle site (download here).
Step 2: Run the setup. Do not change the directory of installation unless you are really out of space in C drive.
Step 3:Just open another windows explorer. Open C drive or wherever you installed JDK, browse to the bin folder. Right click on the address bar, select "copy link as text". For example : C:\JAVA\bin or C:\Program Files (x86)\JAVA\bin (most general cases).
Step 4: After that, open System Properties ( Right Click on My computer\This PC Icon on desktop => click on properties=>advanced system settings=>environment variables)
Step 5: Now just go to the system variables section and look for PATH. You will find a edit button. click it!!

Step 5: Now Paste the link you got in step 3.

click OK to save it.
Step 6: Now Open Command Prompt or "cmd".
type javac
 u will get this which confirms successful setup of JAVA Development Kit.

Happy Coding!!!!


If you face any problems drop me a mail at koustuvdutta@gmail.com.

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