Target Drone PlatformHardware

Traxxas Slash VXLTraxxas is known for fast radio controlled cars and that is what system requirements demanded. After tracking a projectile, the target drone has only a small window of time before projectile impact. Calculations revealed that the system required a vehicle that would accelerate quickly to a high speed as fast as possible, while being able to carry a heavy load. The Traxxas Slash VXL is the perfect vehicle for the system. It can exceed 50MPH and was big and powerful enough to carry the load requirement.

FEATURES ON 1/16 SLASH 4X4 VXL:

Ready-To-Race® with included 6-cell NiMH Power Cell battery and charger 30+mph with included NiMH battery, 50+mph with additional NiMH battery TQi 2.4GHz Radio System Revo suspension technology for superior handling and control Full-time 4WD Velineon® 380 brushless motor—largest in class Waterproof electronics Torque-control™ slipper clutch Sealed differentials Realistic all-terrain tires with foam inserts Traxxas High-Current Connector Metric hex hardware Rubber sealed ball bearings

ArduPilot Mega (APM)This Arduino-compatible autopilot board by DIY Drones was used to win the autonomous vehicle competition organized by Sparkfun. Ardupilot is a fully programmable autopilot that requires a GPA module and IMU sensors to create a functioning Unmanned Ground Vehicle. The hardware and software and all open source and can be programmed with the Arduino IDE. APM can be used for airplanes, rotary wing aircraft, or ground vehicles, depending on the firmware loaded.

Features on the ArduPilot Mega:

Designed to be used with autonomous aircraft, quadcopters and helis Based on a 16MHz Atmega2560 processor. Built-in hardware failsafe that uses a separate circuit (multiplexer chip and ATMega328

processor) to transfer control from the RC system to the autopilot and back again. Includes ability to reboot the main processor in mid-flight Dual-processor design with 32 MIPS of onboard power Supports 3D waypoints and mission commands (limited only by memory--approximately 600-

700 waypoints with current code, but can be adapted for more) 256k Flash Program Memory, 8K SRAM, 4K EEPROM Comes with a 6-pin GPS connector (EM406 style). Has 16 spare analog inputs (with ADC on each) and 40 digital input/outputs to add additional

sensors Four dedicated serial ports for two-way telemetry (using optional XBee modules) and

expansion Can be powered by either the RC receiver or a separate battery Hardware-driven servo control, which means less processor overhead, tighter response and no

jitters Eight RC channels (including the autopilot on/off channel) can be processed by the autopilot. LEDs for power, failsafe status, autopilot status

ArduPilot Mega IMU ShieldThe APM IMU Shield is designed to fit on top or bottom of the ArduPilot Mega board, creating a total autopilot sulotion when a GPS module is attached. This board features a large array of sensors needed for Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAV) and Robotics applications, including three axis angular rotation and acceleration sensors, absolute pressure and temperature sensors, and 16MBits data logger chip.

Features on IMU Shield: Dual 3.3V Regulator!!! (One dedicated for analog sensors) Relay switch for cameras, lights or payloads. 12-bit ADC for better Gyro/Accel/AirSpeed resolution. Built-in 16MB Data Logger (The Black Box). Piano DIP switch for servo reverse or user customizable. Built-in FTDI, making the board native USB. Dedicated Modem/OSD port. I2C Port with incoming "Daisy Chain board" allowing you to build sensor arrays. Two user-programmable buttons. 10-Bit analog expansion ports. Reset button. Optional "Through Hole" voltage dividers (Easy to solder). Tons of Status LEDs. New vibration resistance Invensense Gyros (Triple Axis).

Analog Devices ADX330 Accelerometer. AirSpeed sensor port (optional, sold separately). Absolute Bosch pressure sensor and temp for accurate altitude Weight: 0.5 oz; 13 g

MediaTek MT3329 Global Positioning System (GPS) A state-of-the-art 66 channel MediaTek MT3329 GPS Engine, perfect to aid in positioning of the target drone. Its high sensitivity is perfect for urban performance. It includes an adapter to easily be added to ArduPilot Mega’s IMU Shield.

Features on MediaTek MT3329 GPS: Based on MediaTek Single Chip Architecture. Dimension：16mm x 16mm x 6mm L1 Frequency, C/A code, 66 channels High Sensitivity：Up to -165dBm tracking, superior urban performancesPosition Accuracy：< 3m CEP (50%) without SA (horizontal) Cold Start is under 35 seconds (Typical) Warm Start is under 34 seconds (Typical) Hot Start is under 1 second (Typical) Low Power Consumption：48mA @ acquisition, 37mA @ tracking Low shut-down current consumption：15uA, typical DGPS(WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS) support (optional by firmware) USB/UART InterfaceSupport AGPS function ( Offline mode : valid up to 14 days ) Includes a molex cable adapter, 5 cm. Includes the new basic adapter. Weight: 0.3oz; 8 g

Target Drone ControllerZotac ION Intel Atom D525 Motherboard

The Target Drone Controller will perform all computations regarding projectile detection, projectile tracking, and projectile avoidance. The Zotac ION includes an Intel Atom D525 1.8 GHz Dual Core CPU with onboard NVIDIA ION Graphics. This allows for high performance for a single core and the option to parallize, while staying light weight.

Features on Zotac ION Intel Atom D525 Motherboard:

Microsoft Windows 7 Premium CPU: Intel Atom D525 (1.8GHz, Dual-Core) Hyper-Threading

Chipset: intel NM10 Memory: DDR3 800 (4GB Max) 1 PCI Express x4 expansion slot 1 x Mini PCI Express (support WiFi module) 2 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s Next-Generation NVIDIA ION Graphics (CUDA Ready) 1 x HDMI 4 x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0 Onboard DC-DC power supply

Dimensions: 6.7” x 6.7”

Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 MemoryThe Zotac ION’s maximum memory capacity is 4GB of memory. The Target Drone is designed to work in real time, so it is crucial to optimize the Target Drone Controller for maximum performance. Maximizing the memory capacity does just that.

Features of Crucial DDR3 Memory:

240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM Model: CT2KIT25664BA1339 Voltage: 1.5V ECC: No Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit

Toshiba 120GB 5400 RPM 2.5” HDDA solid state drive was preferable with its light weight and increased performance, but due to mini PCI slot not supporting SATA, it could not be used. This Toshiba HDD fulfilled our requirements with a 5400 RPM motor that gives it up to a 12% performance boost over 4200RPM drives. The SATA150 interface and 8MB cache also provides a high speed pathway for data.

Features of Toshiba HDD:

Model: MK1234GSX SATA 1.5 Gb/s 8MB Cache Average Seek Time of 12ms Average Latency of 5.55ms 5400RPM 2.5” Form Factor

LIPO (Lithium Polymer) BatteriesLipo batteries are a type of rechargeable battery that has taken the electric RC world by storm. They are light weight, which is a major concern for the Target Drone. They also have large capacities, meaning they hold lots of power in a small package. They also have high discharge rates to power the most demanding electric motors, like the Target Drones motor.

Software:EMGU CV 2.3.0

Emgu CV is a cross platform .Net wrapper to the Intel OpenCV image processing library. Allowing OpenCV functions to be called from .NET compatible languages such as C#, VB,VC++, IronPython etc. The wrapper can be compiled in Mono and run on Linux / Mac OS X. C#’s modern object oriented language and rich class library allows rapid development, while OpenCV is a great opensource library of programming functions for real time computer vision.

Microsoft Windows 7 PremiumWindows 7 is running of the Target Drone Controller. Windows is a reliable operating system that offers all the features necessary to Control the Target Drone. The Windows 7 Operating System is also necessary to run the Microsoft Kinect SDK 1.0 & Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4. Implementing these software products will dramatically improve development time and Target Drone performance.

ArduRoverCode for ArduPilot

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) 4 RDS 4 provides a wide range of support to help make it easy to develop robot applications. RDS 4 includes a programming model that helps make it easy to develop asynchronous, state-driven application. RDS 4 provides a common programming framework that can be applied to support a wide variety of robots enabling code and skill transfer. RDS 4 includes a lightweight asynchronous services-oriented runtime, a Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR), Decentralized Software Service (DSS), and a simulation engine and tools.

Kinect for Windows SDK v1.0The Kinect for Windows SDK enables developers to create applications that support gesture and voice recognition, using Kinect sensor technology on computers running Windows 7. This software gives enables the use of the Kinect RGB and Depth cameras to detect, track, and make the path of projectiles fired at the Target Drone.

System requirements:

Supported operating systems: Windows 7

Windows Embedded Standard 7Hardware Requirements

32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processorDual-core 2.66-GHz or faster processorDedicated USB 2.0 bus2 GB RAMA Microsoft Kinect for Windows sensor

Software RequirementsMicrosoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Express or other Visual Studio 2010 editionNET Framework 4.0

Projectile Detection / Tracking AlgorithmsThe projectile detection and tracking is implemented for the Target Drone Platform for each frame, as it is processed. To detect the projectile, color threshold is used with the current threshold values set for detection of the color orange. To track the projectile, image moments are used. From the moment, the X and Y coordinate of the center point of the tracked object is found and then used to find the depth coordinate (Z) at the position of the object. The coordinates are then sent to the appropriate service and used for the projectile motion calculations.

Projectile Motion / Collision AlgorithmsIt is necessary to find the vector of the projectile in order to determine if the projectile will collide with the Target Drone. The computer vision algorithms determine points in space where the projectile is located with timestamps. Using these points and times the projectile motion equation determines a parametric equation for the projectile. This equation is used to predict the projectiles path. A Sphere is used to represent the Target Drone. If there is an intersection with the sphere and the parametric equation representing the projectile a collision is eminent.