UAV and UAV Landing Platform close to completion!

I posted a while back with our project and we have been keeping it in hiding until we fully finished it. We still have some things left to finish.  We were able to get the magnetic locking system to work using 2 HITECH 755 series Servos to lower/lock the magnetic arms.  

Main Features Include:

For the Rover

• Regenerative Charging System  based on a Bedini Motor
• Magnetic Neodymium Locking System for the quadcopter
• Mecanum Wheels
• Andymark 1200 oz-in 198 RPM 2-Stage Planetary Gear Motors
• XBEE Pro 900 MHz on the Communication Controls
• APM 1.5 just for real time navigation/GPS
• Custom Made Motor Controllers
• All custom embedded code able to handle up to 255 devices
• Real Time monitoring from a control terminal
• Touchscreen LCD for controls
• Fingerprint scanner for authentication
• Independent Speed Controls for all motors 
• FPV using a 200mW transmitter on 1268 mHZ
• Custom made Frame/Shell 
• Monitoring Control panel
• 2-Way Mirror Film top
• NeoPixel Runway Lighting \
• GOPRO HERO3 on a Pan and Tilt System
• Maxbotix SONAR

For the Quadcopter:

• DJI F450 Frame
• DJI OPTO ESC"s
• DJI 930kV Motors
• 10" APC Props
• 200mW FPV on 1280 MHz
• XBEE Pro Telemetry
• APM 2.6
• MinimOSD
• DJI  Landing Gear
• Custom 3D printed landing feet with magnets in them
• Lasers
• Frsky 2.4 gHZ Receiver
• Turnigy 9X Controller
• GOPRO HERO3
• Maxbotix SONAR 

Some of the videos are a little outdated as far as the aesthetics go.

But check them out! 

Greetings DIYDrones! 

We started building this project a few months ago for our Senior Design Project at the University of Central Florida's Electrical Engineering Program. We used tons of information and products based off this community and figured we would share our project. We haven't found really much like it so we are hoping that it may help shed some light into a different area.

There are a lot of sub-systems and sections to this project and I will be more than happy to expand on any of it if anyone wants to know. But the basic idea is we have a modified F450 running an APM 2.6 with extra features that is able to land on a mobile rover. This rover is able to transport the quad and then the quad is able to fly off and it's own thing. It will then return to the rover and land on it.

The quad features a readymadeRC 200mW transmitter for the FPV, minimOSD, XBEE PRO 900 MHZ telemetry, GoProHERO3 on a pan and tilt servo setup,  Turnigy 9X with frsky tx/rx, and a 5000mAH nanotech. We also modifed the frame with 3D printed parts for all the housings and magnetic feet for the locking. For those of you who are immediately questioning the weight distributions, we actually weighed the printed parts versus using zipties and adhesives, they come within about 2 grams of eachother (the printed parts are heavier of course). We offset the frame the best we could to evenly distribute the weight. 

Now for some the more interesting parts. When the quad lands, it will actually be re-charged. The charging system utilizes what is called Bedini Motor and we are using Solar Panels for supplementary power. One thing we also realized was that the quad was going to slide around and fall off while we are driving around. So we also implemented a magnetic locking system. Simply put, we printed feet for the quad that attach to the legs that house very strong magnets. The rover then has a magnetic grid on it attached to an actuator that raises and lowers to release/lock the quad. So far we have been able to get almost a full 45 degrees sideways before it starts slipping. We also implemented Mecanum wheels into 

it so we can straffe and a few other custom modes. I can post videos of it once I figure out how to lol. 

I don't want to make the post too wordy so I will post some of the pictures. Please keep in mind that we are still developing it and I don't want to post the more final pics until it is more put together (the actual shell for the rover should be done this weekend, the plexi top right now was just for practicing landing). This project was built almost from the complete ground up from the PCB's, the software, the GUI's, the frames, and we also 3D printed a lot of our parts (oh yeah, we have  ROBO3D and a Reprap in our garages)