Fabrication of Multipurpose Surveillance Drone

A Drone can achieve vertical flight in a stable manner and be used to monitor or collect data in a specific region such as loading a mass. Technological advances have reduced the cost and increase the performance of the low power microcontrollers that allowed the general public to develop their own Drone. The goal of this project is to build, modify, and improve an existing Drone kit to obtain stable flight, gather and store GPS data, and perform auto commands, such as auto-landing. The project used an Aeroquad Drone kit that included a frame, motors, electronic speed controllers, Arduino Mega development board, and sensor boards and used with the provided Aeroquad software. Batteries, a transmitter, a receiver were interfaced with the kit. The aeroquad software was modified to properly interface the components with the Drone kit. Individual components were tested and verified to work properly. Calibration and tuning of the PID controller was done to obtain proper stabilization on each axis using custom PID test benches. Currently, the Drone can properly stabilize itself, determine its GPS location, and store and log data. Most of the goals in this project have been achieved, resulting in a stable and maneuverable Drone.