Student Creates Quad Rotor

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2011-09-20
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Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
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en_US
Abstract
Leon Burkamshaw, a student working with CAVR, has designed and built a quad rotor for his thesis which involves building a low-cost quadrotor helicopter that can be used as a research platform. Quadrotor helicopters have complex and tightly coupled dynamics that make them impossible to fly without some form of on-board control system to dampen the dynamic response. While he constructed every aspect of this aircraft, the main focus of his work was in the software required for the on-board controller. He used a rather novel approach for the inertial measurement unit, a Wii MotionPlus. The MotionPlus device contains a 3-axis gyro, analog front end, Analog to Digital Converter (ADC), as well as a micro-controller that provides a simple one wire serial interface to the gyro samples. The advantage of using such a mass-produced device is its low cost ($20). The video is of its maiden flight. In the video the quadrotor is being remotely controlled by Leon. The next goal is to have the quadrotor flying autonomously.
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Leon Burkamshaw, a student working with CAVR, has designed and built a quad rotor for his thesis which involves building a low-cost quadrotor helicopter that can be used as a research platform. Quadrotor helicopters have complex and tightly coupled dynamics that make them impossible to fly without some form of on-board control system to dampen the dynamic response. While he constructed every aspect of this aircraft, the main focus of his work was in the software required for the on-board controller. He used a rather novel approach for the inertial measurement unit, a Wii MotionPlus. The MotionPlus device contains a 3-axis gyro, analog front end, Analog to Digital Converter (ADC), as well as a micro-controller that provides a simple one wire serial interface to the gyro samples. The advantage of using such a mass-produced device is its low cost ($20). The video is of its maiden flight. In the video the quadrotor is being remotely controlled by Leon. The next goal is to have the quadrotor flying autonomously.
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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