TU Delft - Search and Rescue with AR Drone 2

Introduction Team 1

The highly maneuverability and stability of a quadrotor inspired us to make an autonomous search and rescue vehicle. For this the AR Drone 2 was used. The goal of this project is thus to further develop the AR Drone2 in a robot of performing an autonomous search mission. All the steps taken are described on this page.

In order to achieve this goal we decided to work with raw data. The data was obtained by creating drivers capable of extracting and interpreting sensor data from the AR Drone2. In order to get the quadrotor flying paparazzi was used. For simulation JSBSim was used, which was then visualized using Flight Gear. The final section of the page will concern with the subject of making the quadrotor autonomous.

Creating a Flight Dynamics Model

In order to control the otherwise highly active dynamic nature of the quadrotor, an autopilot system will be necessary because the reaction time of the pilot will, otherwise, not be sufficient to maintain stable flight. The autopilot system will be created in Paparazzi for which a prerequisite is a proper flight dynamics model (FDM). To create the FDM the team will use JSBSIM, an open-source, platform-independent, flight-dynamics and control software library. Installing JSBSIM is covered for several different operating systems on the Paparazzi Wiki, Installing JSBSIM.

Once JSBSim had been installed, the actual work could begin. Flight Dynamics and the creation of an individual model for an aircraft is essentially a case study regarding its control, stability, and performance. To model those three dynamics aspects is essentially what JSBSIM was used for but before work could begin, JSBSIM would first need to be fed a configuration file. The configuration file is written in a .xml format and, naturally, is unique to each aircraft. Although not applicable to this project, it is worth mentioning in the event that the reader of this page is not following the instruction exactly and is using it more for reference, there is a tool on the JSBSIM page called Aeromatic, which is a capable .xml configuration file generator. For those following this project closely, a link will follow for creating a suitable JSBSIM .xml configuration file for the AR.Drone2.

• Creating a JSBSIM .xml Configuration File for AR.Drone2

Paparazzi Autopilot System

Throughout this project, on several different occasions, it will be apparent that the AR.Drone was never meant to be used in this fashion. In addition to this, Parrot SA has a vested interest in maintaining the exclusivity of its product, rightfully so. With what little information is publicly available it is the team's objective to load the open-source autopilot system, Paparazzi onto an otherwise copyright protected piece of hardware. In order to do so a few steps had to be taken to get Paparazzi onto the AR.Drone 2.

• Reverse engineering the AR.Drone2

Creating a airframe

From the Paparazzi GCS we need to add an aircraft and attach an airframe, flightplan, settings, radio and telemetry files.