Week 18. Applications and Implications (May 17)¶
Week 18 Assignment
-
Propose a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered, answering:
-
What will it do?
-
Who’s done what beforehand?
-
What will you design?
-
What materials and components will be used?
-
Where will they come from?
-
How much will they cost?
-
What parts and systems will be made?
-
What processes will be used?
-
What questions need to be answered?
-
How will it be evaluated?
-
Your project should incorporate 2D and 3D design,
-
additive and subtractive fabrication processes,
-
electronics design and production,
-
embedded microcontroller interfacing and programming,
-
system integration and packaging
-
Where possible, you should make rather than buy the parts of your project
-
Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual mastery of the skills, and be independently operable
Modifying The Original Plan¶
This week the assignment was to basically flesh out all of the specifications of final projects, which mine is going to be a quadcopter. Although the original plan was to try and go almost completely custom, after talking with Dr. Harris and Dr. Fagan, two of our lab’s gurus, I determined that going entirely custom simply was just out of the scope of this class and would take too much time for me to finish it by the deadline. A change in the original plan is that I plan to order a transmitter and receiver to serve as a backup plan in the event that making the other electronics the flight controller takes longer than anticipated, and I am not able to manufacture a custom transmitter and receiver.
Project Specific Questions¶
What will it do?¶
My quadcopter will be able to achieve steady flight with its movements wirelessly being controlled by two external joysticks. Since the quadcopter portion itself is hard, the goal for Fab Academy is just to make it take flight, and I will expand on the project later on.
Who’s done what beforehand?¶
Obviously quadcopters are not a new thing and there are tons of prebuilt drones or drone kits you can buy online, of which here I have linked a few: Quad 1, Quad 2, Quad 3. However, these drones are all commercially made and thus cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars to buy. My goal is to be able to make a drone that is still able to fly but doesn’t cost as much.
Within Fab Academy, there are a few people I found who made a quadcopter, but it seems to be very rare. On top of that, within those people who tried to build one, I could only find three or so people who actually had documentation of it working. Here are a few people’s pages that I stumbled upon in my research.
The main one I will be referencing to create the project is Danielle’s page, since so far, he’s been the only one person whom I’ve found who has documented a successful quadcopter. Since he did an autonomous avoidance drone and I am doing an RC drone, I will have to make some modifications to what he did. Overall however, the frame, flight controller, and general things could be similar.
What will you design?¶
I will incorporate both 2D and 3D designed elements into my final project. For the 3D design portion, I will use Fusion 360 to design 4 custom propellers, which will be 3D printed to fit on the motors. For the 2D design portion, I will use Corel Draw and Fusion 360 to design a custom frame, which will be laser cut out of wood. I will also use KiCAD to design a flight controller and power distribution board, which will be milled from copper.
What materials and components will be used? Where will they come from? How much will they cost?¶
Here is the full Bill of Materials which answers these three questions.
| Part | Quantity | Price | Place Found |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000kV Brushless Motors w/ 30A ESC | 4 | $71.56 | Amazon |
| nRF24l01+PA+LNA Transceiver w/ Antenna | 2 | $8.49 | Amazon |
| GY-521 MPU6050 6 Axis IMU | 1 | $6.29 | Amazon |
| RC Radio Transmitter and Receiver | 1 | $69.99 | Amazon |
| 3000 mAh 50C 11.1V LiPo Battery | 1 | $24.71 | Amazon |
| Total Cost | $181.04 |
To calculate the LiPo battery I wanted, I watched this helpful video by Painless360 explaining how to figure out which battery you need.
From this I figured out that the battery would need to provide 4 x 30A = 120A of current. Just to be safe, I wanted a battery that could provide at least 122A. Then the video explained that to find out a battery’s capable amperage, I would need to multiple the mAh value by the C rating. The final thing for figuring out batteries was that the video suggested that I get one with a higher C rating, since this would allow a physically smaller battery to be used while drawing the same current. I also read this article to understand much more about LiPo Batteries.
To actually figure out which battery to choose, I looked at this video.
Additional Note: Here I have included the cost of the nRF24l01 module since it’s an option that I can take for my final project. Most likely, I will be using the store bought transmitter and receiver just because of time constraints, and the nRF24l01 will serve as a proof of concept for radio transmission and receiving.
What parts and systems will be made?¶
Breaking down the quadcopter is a pretty straightforward process once I consider the different subsystems of the quadcopter: the flight controller and power distribution board, the radio transmitter and receiver, and the actual hardware including frame, props, and motor mounts. Of all these systems, the second subsystem will not be made custom, but the first and third system will be. After the first subsystem is made, I will network it with the transmitter and receiver, and then mount it all to combine it with the third system.
What processes will be used?¶
Here is a table describing all of the processes I’m using and what they will be used for
| Process | Usage |
|---|---|
| Laser Cutting | Plywood Quadcopter Frame |
| Computer Aided Design | Frame and Prop Design |
| 3D Printing | Plastic PLA Propellers |
| Input Devices | Two Joysticks |
| Output Devices | Brushless DC Motors |
| Networking | Transmitter, Receiver, and Flight Controller Communication |
| Electronics Production & Design | Flight Controller Design and Milling |
What questions need to be answered?¶
A potential question that still needs to be completely answered is whether I will be using the nRF24l01 tranceiver module to make a PPM transmitter and receiver, or whether I will use the store bought transmitter and receiver. Currently, I am leaning towards using store bought parts and this is likely what I will do.
How will it be evaluated?¶
My project should be evaluated on whether it is able to takeoff, which is ideally what the final product should do. Since my project is already predicted to cost less than normal commercial drones, if it works, then it proves itself as a cheaper alternative. After Fab Academy ends, I plan to try and replace the commerical transmitter and receiver with the nRF module, and see whether I can really make a quadcopter completely from scratch. Another thing I can do to expand after Fab Academy is possibly to try and add a camera. Whichever expansion route I take, it’s no doubt that what I’ve done in Fab Academy is only a first prototype.