Final Project

The Idea

A self-contained parachute unit that attaches to consumer drones without any electronic or software integration with the host device. An independent onboard sensor monitors flight state and triggers deployment upon detecting free-fall. The system operates entirely on its own power source and logic, making its function unaffected by drone system failures. Compatible with a range of drone form factors via a universal mounting bracket.

The Backstory

When I was a 14, I started working and saving up for a drone, and small sized consumer drones were new to the market. Mine happend to be DJI Spark.

I recall how bad the flight-time then was, the drone would fly just 14 minutes at full charge. Also, the battery was very bad at enduring cold temperatures.

After some months of usage winter had come, and I took it to a ski resort. 3 minutes after take off the drone had collaps midair. The propellers had stoped spinning, yet the camera transmitted the view. I started searching the drone, but the GPS was not precise, and 15 minutes later found the drone with a broken arm.

Indeed, I was quite worried for the drone to fail, at the end of the day I bought it with the money I had worked for, and knew its value. So even before having it failed, I had already looked up for backup systems.

The offical repair cost more than the drone itself, so I took the matter into my own hands, and ordered the chassis. This was my first attempt to repair an electronics item, and the soldering was not the prettiest. But the fact is that it could fly.

After having the drone fixed I did not have the same courage to fly it. The accessory market for drones was quite vast, you could find propeller guards, various chargeres, landing mats, camera lenses, etc.1 Though one thing I needed was a parachute system that would prevent the drone from breaking if caught in free fall.

8 years later, the market does not offer a solution to this…

Sketching

The initial sketches, from Week 2 are as follows.

Desiging

Since my drone is quite small, the real challenge is scaling everything down while still fitting every detail into such a compact design. So if this fits on a small drone, it will surely fit on bigger ones. Whereas with bigger area, the device can see design improvements.

To overcome this small footprint, I decided to lift the device onto a base, whereas in the base I will place the battery to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.

PCB

3D model

Software

Summery