Hey Everyone,
I'm a junior electrical engineering major and for my senior project next year, I've assembled a team of two electrical engineers and two mechanical engineers to design a fully autonomous UAV that will be able to navigate from Point A to Point B, and then return. We will have to design everything from scratch, and there is absolutely no "black boxing" allowed (i.e. purchasing a flight controller).
I've been reading all over this website, and other websites, trying to to absorb as much information about UAV's as possible. Does anyone have any advice on where to start if you're completely new to the topic? I want to understand everything, from flight mechanics to control systems.
Any links, book references, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.
Replies
These are complex electronic and mechanical projects. There will always be a certain degree of 'black boxing'. Even if you're designing a custom autopilot using discrete diodes and transistors, you're counting on someone else's spec sheets for the individual components. It is now the case that a pretty even spectrum exists between 'fire and forget' and 'reinvent all wheels'.
Can you use other people's closed-source, proprietary, commercial products? It sounds like no.
How about semi-open kit products like Mikrokopter?
How about open-source products like Ardupilot?
How about proprietary hardware running your code?
Can you build up from a kit of other people's PCBs running your own code? Can you use microcontrollers? System-on-chip designs? What about software-hardware solutions like Arduino?
Clarify the 'black box' prohibition, and we can get a little more specific.
I'd say start in the Getting Started section of the site. It has a lot of things that will spur additional reading. Remember that you can use the "search" option to find specific items of interest in the blog or discussion areas.