Schlagwort: Flight Controller

  • Using an Arduino Nicla Vision as a drone flight controller

    Using an Arduino Nicla Vision as a drone flight controller

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Drone flight controllers do so much more than simply receive signals and tell the drone which way to move. They’re responsible for constantly tweaking the motor speeds in order to maintain stable flight, even with shifting winds and other unpredictable factors. For that reason, most flight controllers are purpose-built for the job. But element14’s Milos Rasic was building his own drone from scratch and found that the Arduino Nicla Vision board makes a great flight controller.

    To perform that critical job of keeping the drone stable, the flight controller needs precises information about the orientation of the drone and any movement in three-dimensional space. Luckily, the Nicla Vision has an integrated six-axis motion sensor that is perfect for the job. It has also a powerful STM32H7 microcontroller, a built-in camera for machine vision and learning tasks, onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and more. And because it is very small (22.86×22.86mm) and very light, it is a good choice for a drone.

    Rasic designed and made the entire drone from zero, using 8520 brushed DC motors and a 3D-printed frame. That is cool, but it isn’t uncommon. The Nicla Vision-based flight controller is what stands out the most.

    Rasic developed a custom PCB for the Nicla Vision that acts like a breakout board and contains a few other useful components, such as for regulating and boosting power. But it didn’t need much, as the Nicla Vision already has most of the necessary hardware. 

    While he could have turned to existing flight controller firmware, Rasic chose to develop his own and that is the most impressive part of this project. That necessitated the creation of three PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controller algorithms for balancing pitch, roll, and yaw. Those work with control inputs to let the drone hover and move stably. The control signals come from a PC over Wi-Fi, with the pilot providing input through a USB flight stick.

    The drone isn’t yet flying well, as PID tuning is a challenge for even the most experienced drone builders. But the foundation is there for Rasic to build on.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CI2XqS5YiA?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post Using an Arduino Nicla Vision as a drone flight controller appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • This maker designed a custom flight controller for his supercapacitor-powered drone

    This maker designed a custom flight controller for his supercapacitor-powered drone

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Basic drones are very affordable these days—you can literally find some for less than the cost of a fast food drive-thru meal. But that doesn’t mean drones are easy to control. That is actually quite difficult, but manufacturers are able to work off of established reference designs. In a video that perfectly illustrates the difficulty, The Tinkering Techie attempted to make a supercapacitor-powered drone with his own custom flight controller. 

    Most airplane designs have inherent aerodynamic stability. Even without power, they can continue to glide. Even helicopters have some inherent stability in the form of autorotation. Quadrotor drones do not—they need constant power and very frequent motor control updates just to stay aloft. Even the slightest control error will result in catastrophic failure. Despite knowing the challenge, The Tinkering Techie wanted to try making his own flight controller.

    Aside from the custom flight controller, this drone is also unique for its power storage. Instead of conventional lithium batteries, it has a bank of supercapacitors. Those can fully charge in seconds—though they don’t store energy well over long periods of time. 

    The job of the flight controller is directing power from the supercapacitors to the motors (brushed DC motors, in this case) in a very precise manner. An Arduino Nano 33 IoT board oversees that process and The Tinkering Techie chose it because it has onboard sensors useful for a quadcopter, including a gyroscope and an accelerometer. A custom PCB hosts the Arduino and the supercapacitors, while a simple 3D-printed frame ties everything together.

    Unfortunately, this isn’t a success story and The Tinker Techie ultimately failed to achieve stable flight. The are many potential reasons for that, but one of the most glaring was the use of brushed DC motors, which can’t respond as fast as brushless DC motors can — an important factor for a drone.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Mqow2XjDA?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post This maker designed a custom flight controller for his supercapacitor-powered drone appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK