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CEAS-REU PROJECT # 1MULTI-UAV COOPERATIVE CONTROL

Michael Alio: Mechanical Engineering, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Dan Champion: Aerospace Engineering, University of Cincinnati

Emma Dorgan: Mechanical Engineering, University of Cincinnati

Graduate Research Assistant -Balaji Sharma: Graduate Student in the School of Dynamic Systems, University of Cincinnati

Faculty Mentor – Dr. Manish Kumar: Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Cooperative Distributed Systems (CDS) Lab, School of Dynamic Systems

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Purpose• Existing control algorithms have been better

suited for land vehicles• Create a better control algorithm for

simultaneous robots that fly• The algorithm is based on swarming which can

be seen in nature such as a flock of birds or a school of fish

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Photo credit: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wmhnFztZURE/TJawxMxwivI/AAAAAAAAAiw/1ZezslZbXL8/s1600/204.JPG

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Photo credit: http://www.jacobdavisphotography.com/images/20100112100232_school_of_fish_800.jpg

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Project Goals:• To gain experience in research

• Help develop a working swarm control algorithm

• Have multiple Skybotix coaxial helicopters fly autonomously and simultaneously by using wireless Local Area Network (LAN)

• Have a working quad-rotor helicopter fly autonomously (optional)

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Objectives:• Learn how to affectively use the Optitrack system in the

IMAGE Lab• Develop and edit a MatLab program to plot position

vectors in both 2 and 3-Dimensional Space• Use an emulated Linux environment to connect and

program individual Skybotix Coaxial helicopters• Create a control algorithm for the UAVs to follow a pursuit

pattern in a confined space

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Optitrack Progress:

• We have familiarized ourselves with the Optitrack system

• We learned to calibrate it to recognize specific objects, while ignoring extraneous markers

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We are working with some very sensitive equipment in the lab!

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MATLAB Progress:

• Found a MATLAB Tool to collect data from the Natural Point program Written by Glen Lichwark, University of Queensland, Australia

• We were able to use this code to track our object on MATLAB

• It makes 3D and 2D plots in real time

Image Source: Mathworks.com

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3D and 2D data plots using MATLAB

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• We changed the code to fit our capture volume

• Also creates a data set of position values while making the graphs

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MATLAB would also crash frequently and unpredictably

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Demonstrations• http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHpy_Ou0YFo&feature=plcp

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp3rp4XDnPQ&feature=plcp

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Skybotix CoaX Helicopters• We were each assigned

a Skybotix Helicopter to work with

• The first step was to get them to send and receive information through Serial Connection

• We are using a program called PuTTY to open the connection to the robot.

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Skybotix Coax Progress• Configuration with Linux is proving to be

difficult

• Skybotix setup forums are extremely vague in their instructions

• Help Forums are proving to be useful (special thanks to Dr. Cedric Pradalier)

Image Source: http://www.neohide.com/operating-systems/linux

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Work Ahead• Finish configuration of CoaX helicopters for wireless

telemetry• Make sure it functions properly with live video feed, optic

sensors, and height sensors• Run a working simulation environment• Create an algorithm to have multiple UAVs fly and

cooperate with each other simultaneously • Test this algorithm with a simulation

Image Source: Skybotix.com

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Project TimelineTask/Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Learn lab & hardware resources

Learn motion tracking system

Learn UAV systems capabilities

Learn communication protocols & UAV control

Learn UAV control

Develop simulation model

Experiment cooperative control algorithm

Documentation & presentation

Green: CompleteRed: Not StartedYellow: Incomplete