Design, Implementation and Analysis of missions for Autonomous Quadcopters

Abstract

Quadcopters are inexpensive and agile aerial robotic platforms. Several applications are possible with these robots such as mine exploration or reconnaissance and rescue operations. These missions require navigating cluttered and unpredictable environments. The vehicle used must be able to quickly avoid obstacles while traveling at high speed. The quadcopter being under-powered is limited in its aggressiveness since it must tilt before accelerating. In addition, the conventional controllers used do not predict the behavior that the vehicle will have during the trajectory using its dynamics, which prevents it from diligently planning complex maneuvers. In this context, the main objective of this dissertation is to overcome these two limitations by developing a quadcopter capable of tilting its motors to accelerate faster and using a PID controller to complete its mission. The mathematical modeling as well as step by step realisation is viewed. In addition, a mission control and analysis using the PIXHAWK controller is also achieved.