Micro-CART

Microprocessor Control Aerial Robotics Team

Matt Beecher Drew Crawford Mike Dent Jason Funk Anthony Nowell Karl Svec Yan Zhang

Problem

Commerial UAVs unable to perform low-altitude combat/reconnaissance missions. No commercially available helicopter based UAVs

Client

The AUVSI hosts the annual International Aerial Robotics Competition Lockheed Martin has funded ISU's R&D of a UAV

IARC

International Aerial Robotics Competition

Level 1: Entrants must demonstrate autonomous flight over a distance of 3 km, beginning at a designated starting point and ending in an autonomous hover or orbit about a final GPS waypoint. Up to four GPS way points must be visited along the path. Level 2: Entrants must demonstrate that their UAV can identify a designated target structure. Additionally the aerial robot must identify at least one open entry into the structure. Both goals must be completed without human intervention.

IARC

International Aerial Robotics Competition

Level 3: The UAV must relay reconnaissance data back to the designated starting point, (or a simulated starting point 3 km away). Level 4: The UAV must complete the mission in less than 15 minutes.

Goal

The MicroCART project team is developing a fully autonomous helicopter which can successfully complete the IARC Competition Level 1 requirements. The teams approach involves modifying an Xcell-60 radio-controlled (RC) helicopter kit

System Diagram

Operating Environment

Hardware Software

TS7300 Single Board Computer Laptop PC Debian Linux for ARM Java Virtual Machine > 40 degrees No high wind speeds No unfavorable weather conditions

Physical

Functional Requirements

The aircraft shall be fully autonomous The aircraft shall operate without tethers The aircraft shall have an operational range of 3 km from the takeoff point The aircraft shall be able to navigate around obstacles The aircraft shall be able to hover at a GPS point

The aircraft shall have a kill switch that does not rely on any support from the other aircraft or ground station components The aircraft shall be able to carry a sensor probe to a defined waypoint

Functional Requirements

The aircraft shall be able to take off The aircraft shall be able to safely land The aircraft shall be able to relay state information to a ground station The aircraft shall be able to be receive GPS waypoints from a ground station

The aircraft must weigh less than 14 lbs to not exceed the payload of the motor The aircraft shall be able to be controlled manually by an operator

Nonfunctional Requirements

The aircraft must be able to fly continuously for at least 20 minutes The aircraft shall be able to fly to within 1 meter of a designated GPS way point The ground station shall have a GUI with which users can enter information to define a mission The ground station shall be able to display the current state of the aircraft on a GUI

The aircraft shall be able to reach an altitude of 50 ft The aircraft shall be able to sense position and attitude to a height of 50 ft AGL Teacatsa b al t rahadmiti ahrotl h i rf hl e b o ec n a a oi n r e nn z a air s peed of 13.03 KTS (15 mph)

Market Survey

Most commercially available UAVs are fixed winged aircraft which lack the capabilities needed for advanced reconnaissance missions in an urban environment There are few helicopter UAVs.

Rotomotion LLC Technical Aeronautics Group

Deliverables

Project Plan Design Document Weekly Reports Hardware and Software for an autonomous Helicopter

Project Schedule

Flight Test 1

Flight Test 2 Flight Test 3 Flight Test 4 Flight Test 5

March 7th 2008 April 7th 2008 October 10th 2008 October 31st 2008 November 26th 2008

Current Status

The current 492 team is working on achieving autonomous hover and movement. Our goal is to finish the project by designing and implementing navigation. Questions?