Design and Implementation of a Low Cost Mini Quadrotor for Vision Based Maneuvers in GPS Denied Environments

Abstract

This paper presents the design and implementation detail of an advanced mini quadrotor system, including the low cost commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics and advanced control algorithm. The proposed quadrotor has a gross takeoff weight of 758[Formula: see text]g and 360[Formula: see text]mm frame diagonal size. It is capable of semi-autonomous maneuver in GPS denied environments, solely relying on onboard sensors and computers. A globally defined quadrotor model is formularized, and a nonlinear velocity tracking controller is implemented on the special Euclidean group SE(3). An optical flow and ultrasonic-based onboard downward-facing camera is used as the primary sensor to provide velocity and altitude measurement feedback for the controller. The control and sensor fusion algorithm is developed under Arduino compatible open source electronics.