Advanced Multi-rotor Drone

=Design Goal= The main project objective is to understand the ground-up multi-rotor drone design. It will include the electro-mechanical design and construction of the airframe, the design and construction of electrical/electronic circuitry to implement the control system that allows the drone to fly, and the design and construction of tools to aid in the process. The control system design will be implemented in an FPGA. A large portion of this project is developing tools to pass on to future teams. This includes various customized tools and methodologies for the development process.

=Project learning= FPGAS: Field Programmable Gate Arrays are devices that are based on around a matrix of configurable logic blocks (CLBs) which have programmable connections. We can use this property to monitor and respond to all of our sensors simultaneously, allowing extremely fast response time.

ESCs:In terms of individual components to go on the boards, we needed MOSFETs to drive the motors, current switching ICs to drive the MOSFETS, comparators to measure back EMF, and an assortment of resistors, capacitors, and diodes. A brushless DC motor to turns as the result of switching the flow of current through its three coils. At any given time, one coil is connected to the supply voltage, another coil is connected to ground, and the other coil is connected to high impedance. Depending on which coil is in which state, the motor will align to a certain position. By switching the states of the coils, the motor can be operating in a similar way to a stepper motor. The motor will have an optimal speed depending on the supply voltage so state transitions need to occur at specific times. Additionally, a PWM signal can be used to modulate the source voltage and the resulting optimal motor speed. Brushless DC motors are designed so that when the coil connected to high impedance passes a magnet on the stator, it is time to switch to the next state. This time can be determined by sensing the back EMF on that coil and comparing it to a virtual neutral.

=Motor characterization= While researching potential motors and propellers for our drone, it became evident that larger propellers are more efficient than smaller propellers in producing thrust. We also learned that propellor material and design is also important. The strength, as well as the angle of attack of a given propellor, determine its efficiency and its weight to thrust ratio. This led to our choice to use Carbon Fiber blades for our rotors.

According to the data from the real-time plotting, each motor with this specific propeller produces a reasonable amount of lift which is Approximately 380g.

=Mechanical Design=

There are the early mechanical modelings of our final deliverables.

=Final deliveriables= {| There are final Mechanical and Electrical Engineering deliverables.

=Team Members=

=Design Validation=

=Flow chart for control system=

=Additional Documentation=

Meeting Minutes

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Design EXPO Materials

4/26 Presentation Outline 4/26 Technical Presentation