Analog to Digital Converter Senior Project – Electrical and Computer Engineering – 2006 Autonomous Navigation of an Indoor Blimp Stuart Wehrly Advisor – Prof. Spinelli Abstract: An autonomous navigation system was designed to allow an indoor Blimp to follow a predetermined flight path. Such Blimps are normally controlled remotely by a human operator. Designing an autonomous control system was challenging due to the extreme weight restrictions imposed by the small size of the helium bag. The merits of computer processing using a nearby wireless computer were compared to having all decision making on the Blimp itself. An accelerometer and a rangefinder were used to keep track of the position of the Blimp and to detect if it nears or contacts any obstacles. Goals: Maintain constant height from floor Move from point A to point B Achievements: Maintain constant height from floor by constantly polling rangefinder and calculating distance from floor. Move from point A to point B by calculating position by integrating acceleration twice. Then power motors until current position equals destination Components: Parallax Basic Stamp II Analog 3-Axis Accelerometer 5-Volt Regulator LM317 Variable Voltage Regulator Analog to Digital Converter with 8 to 1 Multiplexer LM555 Adjustable Clock Design Constraints: Total weight of components must weigh less than 7 ounces Autonomous navigation Detect obstacles in path Calculate position in real time from acceleration Control System 3-Axis Accelerometer Blimp Motors Rangefinder Basic Stamp II Clock Analog to Digital Converter