Unfortunately, the entire team is busy with exams at the moment and haven't had time to update the blog. Next semester, I believe we will have a lot more to talk about since we will finally be working on the core problems of the project.
Our project is going well at the moment. We are in the middle of building our prototype now. We have some of our sensors but we're having problems calibrating them. When we test them without the motors, the readings are vague but at least knew the orientation of the chassis. When the motors are spinning, the chassis vibrates enough that the sensors gives us garbage data. We're trying to smooth out the data and see if that works. Its too bad we encountered the problem right as we go into our exams since we can't spend a lot of time debugging it.
We have the motors working and we can control each one individually. We only have 2 motors at the moment for simplicity's sake. Now if we can get good sensor readings, we can start the automation logic.
We still have not chosen a final battery design since we're still trying to figure out our optimal weight to charge ratio. We can't get the biggest battery since it makes our AMAV harder to fly but we can't get a light one because the charge may be too little. We are currently seeking sponsorship and suggestions to help us find the best batteries for our AMAV. I personally would like to see an ultra capacitor or a fuel cell since they're are hot subject at the moment. At the moment we're looking at Li-Pos since that seems to be the popular choice among RC hobbyists.
I don't know if we will have any more updates until after Christmas, so I wish our supervisor, sponsors, supporters, friends, and family, a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday.
Scorpion Motors 2215-22
We've received the motors and ESCs from our sponsors Scorpion. This video shows one of our first tests on one of the motors an S-2215-22 where the motor was tied to the frame which was tied to our testbed. It was controlled by a micro-controller that was receiving commands to increment and decrement the speed of the motor from a PC through a Zigbee wireless link.
Wireless Communication
Today, we were trying out wireless communications and sensors. Nothing major, just trying to lay down an understanding of our equipement.
IEEE Mini-Grants
We have finally received confirmation that we will be receiving the IEEE Mini-Grant for our project!!
This means we will get some more cash to support the project and a chance to publish some of our results !
Thanks to Dmitry for telling us about it, and to our supervisor Dr. Aghdam for reviewing our application and sending an endorsement letter for the team.
[Update] Since our project's objectives were successfully completed, the IEEE has accepted our paper, one of the examiners also added the comment that it's an excellent paper! The paper is available here.
This means we will get some more cash to support the project and a chance to publish some of our results !
Thanks to Dmitry for telling us about it, and to our supervisor Dr. Aghdam for reviewing our application and sending an endorsement letter for the team.
[Update] Since our project's objectives were successfully completed, the IEEE has accepted our paper, one of the examiners also added the comment that it's an excellent paper! The paper is available here.
Operation of a quad-rotor
We've created these animations to illustrate the operation of a quadrotor in a presentation to our coordinators and supervisor. For illustration, the rotors are moving slowly, to show their relative angular speeds and rotation direction.
The first Animation shows the quadrotor in hover mode:
The next one (bellow) shows how the quadrotor would increase altitude.
Here's how the quadrotor would move along the horizon plane
Finally, this animation shows how the quadrotor would rotate around it's main vertical axes (yaw)
Thanks to Mohannad Al-Khatib for his help with the Maya animations !
Our PhotoStream!
We will periodically add pictures and video of our build to our Flickr account. Feel free to view and comment our project.
Introduction
Welcome to our project's progress blog. We are a group of engineering students at Concordia University doing our CAPSTONE project. This project takes place over two semesters and the end result will be presented to the public at Concordia's Engineering and Visual Arts center.
Our project? We are designing and implementing a Quad Rotor VTOL AMAV, Vertical Take Off and Landing Autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicle. What a mouthful! Essentially, we are building a robotic helicopter that will be able to fly inside buildings autonomously.
Our design will be available to the public as we hope to make it a solid platform for robotic enthusiasts, as well as professionals.
[Update] since the project is done now, you can have access to our documentation section here! You may also inquire about anything else through our email, team@capstone490.com.
We will update our blog periodically with our latest accomplishments.
Documentation
This is a link to our application paper submitted to the IEEE for review. The paper is entitled "A Wireless Multivariable Control Scheme for A Quadrotor Hovering Robotic Platform using IEEE® 802.15.4"
The paper was accepted and announced on Concordia ECE homepage!
Here are the final project report and user manual.
Please reference us in your project if you found this useful. We'd also like to know if you are using anything presented in them.
Projcet Report:
User Manual:
The paper was accepted and announced on Concordia ECE homepage!
Here are the final project report and user manual.
Please reference us in your project if you found this useful. We'd also like to know if you are using anything presented in them.
Projcet Report:
User Manual:
The Team
The Supervisor:
Ph.D. (University of Torotnto, 2000)
Interests
Decentralized large-scale systems; Digital control; Adaptive control; DSL communication networks
Hello, I am a computer engineering student finishing my last year at Concordia University, and I am the team leader for this project. I am interested in flying robots and have spent considerable time learning about vertical take off and land vehicles and robotics to prepare for this project. My main task is to make sure the work progress is following a well set plan, and to be involved in all systems to make sure everything will integrate smoothly as we near completion of the project.
linked in
linked in
Hey, I am a computer engineering student (software option) at Concordia University. Ever since i was a child I always dreamt of becoming a pilot, but my passion in engineering overcame that dream. This is why I decided taking the challenge of building an AMAV from scratch, hence combining my two passions. For this project I will use all my programming experience to teach the vehicle how to fly. I will also be working on the GUI and wireless aspect of this project. My other interests include football and video gaming. Thanks for reading :)!
Hi, I'm a Computer Engineering student at Concordia University. If it isn't already obvious that I have some crazy addiction to technology, well I do. I crave technology and its potential to help society. To keep my mind sharp, I run a Q&A blog where visitors ask me questions about computers. For this project, I will be doing the graphical user interface as well as programing the micro controllers. I am a big fan ofArduino and how they're bringing portable computing to the
masses.
Hey, I am an Electrical Engineering student at Concordia university. Ive always been a fan of airplanes and cars. My facination is applying the mechnical aspects of these vehicals in electronic systems. In this project I will be responsible for all the electrical and hardware aspects such as motors, controllers and sensors.
The Vehicle
We've created these animations to illustrate the operation of a quadrotor in a presentation to our coordinators and supervisor. For illustration, the rotors are moving slowly, to show their relative angular speeds and rotation direction.
The first Animation shows the quadrotor in hover mode:
The next one (bellow) shows how the quadrotor would increase altitude.
Here's how the quadrotor would move along the horizon plane
Finally, this animation shows how the quadrotor would rotate around it's main vertical axes (yaw)
Thanks to Mohannad Al-Khatib for his help with the Maya animations !
Here's a video we made at the end of the project, that got us a silver medal in the IEEE MTT alive international video competition!!
Here's a video we made at the end of the project, that got us a silver medal in the IEEE MTT alive international video competition!!
