1. Conclusions and Future Work
Design and Fabrication of Self- Stabilizing 3D Printed Drone
Using GPS Lock
Vijaya Naishadam, Vamsi Krishna Molugu, Sai Mallikarjun Parandha, Advisor: Prof. Xiong Xingguo.
School of Engineering, University of Bridgeport
Abstract
One of the enthralling advancements in human researching technologies are the unmanned aerial Vehicles, which has a wide area of utilization in entertainment, education, military and other industries. Our motive is to design and fabricate a drone using 3D printing techniques and stabilize it by adding GPS locking system to it. We present designing techniques of a customized quadcopter by CAD modeling comprising of several sensors and programmed flight controller that runs with a battery and controlled by a remote controller along with simulations through BetaFlight, an open source software, for tuning the quadcopter.
Figure 2.b) Performing BetaFlight
Simulation
Figure 2.c) PID tuning graph plot
Introduction
Block Diagram: The Block diagram of the electronic components in the drone are shown in the figure along with the terminal connections. The black line indicates the negative, Red line indicates the positive terminals of power supply and Blue line indicates the signal wire. The power is supplied through the battery to Power Distribution Board(PDB) through which the Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) and Flight Controller(FC) Board is powered. The ESC regulates the speed of both the clockwise and counter clockwise rotating brushless motors that in turn rotates the propellers attached to them. The rotations of motors and propellers produce thrust to the drone which makes the drone to fly. The drone experiences a drag while it is lifted which is compensated by thrust provided by motors. The motors 1&4 rotate in clockwise and 2&3 rotate in counter clock-wise.
The principal subject of the poster is to prototype a 3D printed drone frame and achieve altitude lock at a certain position for further instructions of flight. This is the generation of 3D printing, where we can breathe life into our creative abilities and manufacture our own end products in hours. We manufactured a basic model of a quadcopter with cost-effective biodegradable and bioactive thermoplastic, Polylactic acid (PLA), and customized with all basic electronics along with GPS module. The GPS module and other electronic parts for the drone are tuned by BetaFlight simulation software, such that, when the specific switch is switched on, the drone is locked at the position and waits for further instructions. The drone frame is modeled in the SOLIDWORKS and then sliced for 3D printing with CURA. The advent of robot technology has paved an open way for researchers and analysts to solve difficult problems in the world.
Design Consideration
Name
Manufacturer description
Voltage capacity
Current capacity
size
weight
Cost
Flight controller (FC)
DYS FC Omnibus PRO
2S – 6S LiPo battery range
150A
42*36*10mm
11.2g
$38.50
Power Distribution Board (PDB)
Matek system PDB XT60
3S- 4S LiPo
25A to 4 ESC
36*50*4 mm
10.91g
$8.59
Receiver
FLYSKY FS-X6B 6 channel
4.0V – 4.8V 2A
36*22*5 mm
4.5g
$20.00
Electronic speed controllers (ESC)
Dys 20A ESC
2S – 4S LiPo
25A
24*11*4 mm
4.07g with wires
$38.99
Brushless Motor
RS KV 2*CW & 2*CCW
3S-4S LiPo
31.7mm length and 27.9mm diameter
30g
$30.99
GPS module
Holybro Micro M8N
3V lithium Battery 1A
38*38*11 mm
20.6g
$36.00
3S Lithium polymer batter
Floureon 3S LiPo
3S 11.1V
2200mAh
106*35*25 mm
187 g
$17.99
We have considered many possible ways of failure and breaking of the drone frame. In the end, we manufactured a simple & reliable frame through thorough analysis and simulation of whole drone frame, after designing it in SOLIDWORKS through a fail-safe mechanism. The CAD model of drone frame is shown in the figures.
Fig 3) Block Diagram of electronic
components interface
Table 1) Power & cost table
Figure 1.a) Drone arm dimensions
Figure 1.b) Base Plate dimensions
Device Fabrication
Drone frame is completely 3D printed on Prusa I3 Mk3 with PLA material using about 75 percentage of the infill capacity. The Drone Artifacts assembly: The picture below depicts the arrangement of components for the quadcopter with their names.
Figure 1.d) CAD model of drone frame exploded view
Figure 1.c) Drone fuse large
dimensions
Fig 4) 3D printed drone & its assembly with the nomenclature
Conclusions and Future Work
A fully customizable drone is always cost-effective, task oriented and can be remodeled upon breakage and any failure during the operation, whereas drones available form the market cannot be customized. Using 3D printing technology we can manufacture large-batch or swarm of agile maneuvers which are less expensive and can work efficiently. In future, we can add various sensors such as PM 2.5 sensor to record the pollution data at certain areas and also using GPS- lock feature we can plan a trajectory of a drone, these drones can also be used as first responders during a disaster or at crime incident saving a lot of time and can be accessed remotely from a distance.
Figure 1.e) CAD model of drone frame assembled
BetaFlight Simulation
Acknowledgment
Real time flight simulation can be achieved using BetaFlight. We have tuned PID’s which helps us to gain control over roll, pitch and yaw of the drone during the flight. These settings can be altered and can be tuned depending on how agile we want the drone to be. This whole simulation can be monitored by connecting your Flight controller to BetaFlight Simulation software.
This research is funded by NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium as Faculty Research Grant, Award No. NNX15AI12H. The authors are grateful for the support from NASA CT Space Grant Consortium.
Scan the QR codes below to follow up our Project.
Figure 2.a) PID tuning