tayabajmal

Hi guys!

I am new in this forum and interested in UAVs. I am studying BEng (Hons) Aerospace Engineering in UK and for next year I wish to undertake an UAV final year project. This is the project outline :

"Build and control an UAV. This project is to either simulate or build and control an UAV. UAVs are smart flying vehicles that require integration of sensors and a controller to achieve autonomous behaviour. Apart from fluid dynamics you will need a reasonable knowledge of control systems. Additional sensors can be added to the UAV for increased functionality (e.g camera)". The project is on BEng Level and only for one year of duration.


Anyone who knows about some kind of books or have some idea about where to start? What do I need to think of ? Having a meeting with my supervisor soon where we will discuss what to buy for the project.


Appreciate any help and suggestions.


Kind Regards.

Curtain Call

Hello,

Well that's quite the project, but as long as you're allowed to use COS instead of developing a lot of the software yourself this should be doable provided you don't mind losing all your weekends

I'm not sure if your school flies any particular UAS already, but paparazzi is quitepopular in academia, although it requires knowledge of Linux, DIY drones is a good place to start (found at diydrones.com) they have a pretty active community with other Engineering students with a similar goal as well as seasoned veterans of the industry.<o></o>

<o></o>As to where to start, come up with a sample mission plan you want to achieve (ie take-off automatically, fly a box like pattern with waypoints 300m apart, then circle the last point so you can take over and land the aircraft manually.)<o></o>

<o></o>This will help set some meaningful metrics, like flight time which will get you on the right track for aircraft type (heli, quad, fixed-wing), engine type (gas/electric), battery size (alternator?), wing shape/span, etc.<o></o>

<o></o>From there it’s just chipping away till you reach your goal,<o></o>

<o></o>Good Luck!<o></o>

tayabajmal

Hi!

Thanks for your reply. I don't mind loosing weekends since I am from Scandinavia and a fulltime student in the UK, I don't get disturbed by friends from home asking to go out. What do you mean by "Paparazzia" and "COS"?

Cheers

Curtain Call

Sorry, my brain sometimes forgets I'm typing: COS (Commercial Off the Shelf), ie you don't have to develop your own control system from scratch so you can use open or closed source autopilots like [Open] ArduPilot Mega, Paparazzi, OpenPilot, [Closed] MicroPilot, AttoPilot, etc.
There really is ALOT of choices out there I'm not going to list them all but check out as many as you can so you can get what you need. Also bewary of ITAR/export restrictions on some euqipment UK is pretty friendly but you never know what kind of hoops you'll have to jump through...