1. Dan Garber, Jacob Hindle, and Bradley Lan Advisor: Dr. Joseph Driscoll
Autonomous Quadcopter with Human Tracking and Gesture Recognition (QUADHTGR)
Dan Garber, Jacob Hindle, and Bradley Lan
Advisor:
Dr. Joseph Driscoll

2. Outline Project Summary Previous Work Preliminary Work
Quadcopter Investigation
Equipment and Parts List
Block Diagram
Ultrasonic Sensor
GPS
Schedule Overview

3. Project Summary Human Tracking Gesture Recognition
Live Video Feed & Data Readings via Wifi
Obstacle Avoidance and Auto-Stabilization
R/C Manual Override
The goal of this project is to create a quadcopter that can autonomously track and follow a particular human as well as respond to gesture-based commands. The human tracking will rely on sensor data such as video images and GPS coordinates. The quadcopter will also have a wifi connection, allowing live video feeds and data to be streamed over the internet. Autonomous flight will include auto-stabilization, and obstacle avoidance. As an added safety measure, there will be a radio control (R/C)-based manual override.

4. Human Tracking
GPS
Image Processing

5. Gesture Recognition BeagleBone Black I2C Communication Camera
Bicycle Hand Signal
Increase Following Distance
Decrease Following Distance
Land

6. Live Video Feed & Data Readings via Wifi
Video Captured by Camera
GPS Data

7. Obstacle Avoidance and Auto-Stabilization
Ultrasonic Sensing
Image Processing
Inertial Measurement Unit

8. R/C Manual Override Required by FFA
Turnigy Power System 9X 2.4G 9 Channel Controller
R/C MUX Circuit
Manual override
- There shall be a manual override, in the form of a standard R/C system, to switch from autonomous control to manual R/C control. The Turnigy Power System 9X 2.4G 9 Channel controller will be the initial platform and will be upgraded as needed.

9. Previous Work Junior Project Introduction to NMEA Messages
GPS Receiver
ATmega Based Microcontroller
Introduction to NMEA Messages
Serial Communication via UART for GPS Data

10. Previous Work Junior Project Roboboat Senior Project
Sharp Infrared Sensors for Edge Detection
ATmega128 Microcontroller
Roboboat Senior Project
Moving Average Low-Pass Filter

11. Preliminary Work Quadcopter Investigation Equipment and Parts List
Block Diagram
Ultrasonic Sensor
GPS

12. Quadcopter Investigation
Two ESC Failures
Lack of Information/Poor Documentation
Black Box Controllers
FC1212-S (Flight Controller)
AHRS-S (IMU)

13. Considered Alternative Options
Option 1 - Repair X650CF, New XAircraft Parts
Option 2 - Keep X650CF Frame, New Generic Parts
Option 3 - Purchase a New Quadcopter
APM:Copter
ELEV-8 Parallax
Parrot AR Drone
DJI Phantom

14. Summary of Considerations

15. Platform Chosen Current XAircraft Quadcopter Most Cost Effective
Assembled RTF Platform
Minor Tests Required for Flying Condition

16. Equipment and Parts List
ATmega Microprocessor
Beagle Bone Black
XL-MaxSonar-EZ3 (MB1230) Ultrasonic Sensor
Adafruit 66 Channel MTK3339 GPS Breakout Board V3

17. Block Diagram

18. Ultrasonic Sensor Specifications
XL-MaxSonar-EZ3 Ultrasonic Sensor
Size: 2.2cm x 2.0cm x 2.5cm (6.1g)
Range: 20cm - 750cm (datasheet)
Lab Test: Max Distance = About 500cm
Reading rate: 10 Hz
Travel Limitation w/ Six Ultrasonic Sensor = 8.3m/s
Travel Limitation is calculated by taking 500cm max distance reading and dividing it by 0.6s for its refresh rate across six ultrasonic sensors in a low noise chaining configuration.

19. Preliminary Work - Ultrasonic Sensor
PWM Signal Output
Low Pass Filter of Signal
Analog Signal Output and ADC
Low Noise Chaining of Multiple Sensors

20. Low Noise Chaining Diagram
Pin 5 on each sensor fires off a 100ms pulse when pin 1 is tied to ground.

21. Adafruit GPS Specifications
Sensitivity: -165dBm
Typically around -160 or -165dBm
Update Rate: 10Hz Max
Standard ≥ 1Hz
Position Accuracy: 1.8m
Velocity Accuracy: 0.1m/s
Travel Limitation is calculated by taking 500cm max distance reading and dividing it by 0.6s for its refresh rate across six ultrasonic sensors in a low noise chaining configuration.

22. Preliminary Work - Adafruit GPS
Program for ATmega328P
Shift to BeagleBone Black
Travel Limitation is calculated by taking 500cm max distance reading and dividing it by 0.6s for its refresh rate across six ultrasonic sensors in a low noise chaining configuration.

23. Schedule Overview Ultrasonic Sensor Testing - 12/07/2013
Quadcopter Manual R/C Flight - 12/10/2013
Quadcopter Autonomous Flight - 2/6/2014
GPS Waypoint Implementation - 2/20/2014
Obstacle Avoidance - 4/08/2014
Gesture Recognition - 05/06/2014

24. Questions?