2018 Fourth International Conference on Research in Computational Intelligence and Communication Networks (ICRCICN)

Arduino Quadcopter
Arijit Ghosh Hiranmoy Roy Soumyadip Dhar
Dept. of AEIE, RCCIIT Dept. of IT, RCCIIT Dept. of IT, RCCIIT
Kolkata, India Kolkata, India Kolkata, India
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— Technical upgradation in the field of surveillance includes aerial maneuvers. To conduct such maneuvers precise
as well as in remote package delivering systems have led us angle handling is required. It serves as a solution to handle the
to the development of a quadcopter. The quadcopter’s copter with angular precision which illustrates how spin of the
flight controller is developed using Arduino Uno R3 based four rotors is varied simultaneously to achieve angular
microcontroller board and its flight movements can be orientation along with takeoff, landing and hovering at an
controlled using a transmitter-receiver setup. A gyro cum altitude [1-2].
accelerometer module is attached to give the exact
coordinate location of the place where the quadcopter is II. LITERATURE REVIEW
positioned whereas the magnetometer module indicates the This section is divided into three sub-sections as follow:
direction of travel. The microcontroller is supplied with a
LIPO battery. The microcontrollers are programmed to A. EARLY DEVELOPMENTS
turn on the quad rotors using electronic speed controllers The earliest invention of the quadcopter dates back to 1907
(ESCs). when Louis Breguet invented and flew the first quad rotor
helicopter. The drones were then used mainly by the US army
Keywords— Arduino Uno microcontroller; Motors; Electronic for military purposes. The literal introduction of quadcopter
speed controllers; MPU 6050; HMC 5883L; LIPO was in this century where advances in electronics allowed the
production of low cost lightweight flight controllers which had
I. INTRODUCTION
the capability of flying an UAV. Furthermore, a number of
In this modern age of technology, quadcopter has become a sensors were incorporated into the flight controller in order to
popular invention in the field of engineering. A quadcopter, increase the stability of the quadcopter. These sensors were
also known as UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) uses four accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer. This resulted in
propellers for lift and stabilization. The rotors are placed in the popularity of quadcopters for small UAVs. With their
square formed upward location with equal distance from the smaller dimension and maneuverability, the quadcopters were
center of mass. It is controlled by adjusting the rotor angular used for both indoor and outdoor applications. But at the
velocities which are spun by electric motors. Nowadays, preliminary phases these quadcopters lacked in basic stability
quadcopters have generated attention from the researchers as and controllability. Thus, new designs were incorporated in
its complex phenomena can be utilized in several real-time the quadcopters using more stable sensors. These sensors
applications [1]. increased the stability and also allowed it to hover at a
The basic concept of flight mechanism is as follows: predefined altitude. At this stage, the microcontrollers used
Yaw, which is turning in left and right direction, is done by were complex in nature and flight control was difficult as well
increasing the velocity of regular rotating motors and due to errors from the controller output.
extracting same amount of power from counter rotors that is B. SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS
kept in the regular rotors which produces no extra lift (it The introduction of the advanced and stable sensors helped in
would not go higher) but since counter torque is now less, the increasing the hovering stability of the drone. The hover
quadcopter rotates. Roll, which is tilting in left and right control was achieved by the PID controller design using a
direction, is done by turning up the speed of one motor and microcontroller. This led to the increase in demand of drones
turning down the speed of the motor placed in opposite in the field of agriculture to monitor crops of an area [3]. But
direction. Pitch, which is moving up and down is controlled still the drones were not upgraded enough to perform specific
similarly as of roll, but using the other set of motors. Roll and tasks. There were scopes of further developments in the future.
pitch are determined from the “front” of drone. For roll or Thus, scientists introduced few other sensors like tilt sensors,
pitch change, thrust is decreased for one rotor and similarly infrared sensors etc. to make the drones more efficient in their
increased for the opposite rotor which causes the quadcopter tasks. The tilt sensor monitors the pitch of the drone and the
to tilt. When it tilts, the force vector is split into horizontal as infrared sensor separates the subject of interest from the other
well as vertical component. objects by the different radiation emitted from the body [4].
A quadcopter is operated by varying the RPM spin of its four The drones at this stage were still less efficient because it had
rotors to control its lift and torque. The thrust is determined no sensors to monitor the location to where it was flying and
using altitude, pitch, and roll angles and is obtained from the remote controlling the drone was a difficult task. Scientists
ratio of the angles. The thrust plays a key role in maneuvering, later added a GPS (Global Positioning System) module which
and it enables the user to perform flying routine which located the coordinates of the area where it was flying and

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send it to the remote controller. At this time, the quadcopter quality of the crops [12-15]. Another field where it can be
and remote controller were connected to each other using Wi- useful is during natural calamity to warn people of the
Fi instead of the traditional radio waves. This increased the situation and inform them about the safety measures to be
range of the controller several times and could be remotely taken by incorporating microphone enabled heat sensors with
controlled from a faraway place. The quadcopter at this stage a camera for reconnaissance. Here, for this additional security
could follow a preset path loaded into the memory of the purposes we need several components like microphone, pistol
controller [4-5]. with immobilizing darts, heat resistant frame, small medical
The drones were comfortably flown in indoors at low wind devices, mini size quad copter and recognition devices [16].
speeds. But it suffered from aerodynamic drag forces at The developments with these drones are plenty. Previously,
outdoors due to heavy wind flow. The sensors used were the drones could follow a pre-determined path. But the drone
insufficient in overcoming the wind forces in outdoors and lost was vulnerable to collisions. Lately, quadcopters are being
stability. This ultimately led to the drone being drifted away designed which has the technology of obstacle detection and
towards the wind flow [5]. To make the flight more stable, the collision avoidance. The quadcopters use a number of
sensors were made more efficient. But the advanced sensors ultrasonic sensors in coordination to detect objects around it
were not compatible with the old microcontrollers used. Thus, and avoid them by using simple algorithms. The signals from
new microcontrollers are being introduced since the last the sensors are controlled by an Arduino microcontroller.
decade which provides the required output to the sensors and Here, the signals from the sensors are integrated to give a
stabilize the flight. The most popular microcontroller used till collision avoidance display on the remote controller which can
date amongst them is the Arduino microcontroller since it is be used to control the quadcopter precisely. But then again,
very easy to use and program [6-7]. the quadcopter could not provide the location to where it was
C. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS travelling. This was eliminated in the future where a GPS
Several advancements have been achieved in the field of module is introduced in the system which allows the
quadcopters over the last decade as they have evolved in quadcopter to fly between two coordinates avoiding collision.
designs as well as in flight controllability. This is due to the This development found applications in package delivering
fact that better microcontrollers are being used along with systems and thus avoiding collisions on the way [17-18].
better sensors attached. The introduction of BME 280 Latest developments have been made where the quadcopters
(temperature, pressure as well as altitude) sensor along with are being controlled by voice commands of the user or by
the gyroscope helped the drone in altitude hold control pre- simple hand gestures. These developments are still in the
determined by the microcontroller. At this stage, the GUI at initial stages but are soon to become a reality [19-20].
the remote station was improved to give the user a nice flight The designed system is based upon programming the
experience. The drones proved useful in the military in remote quadcopter using Arduino Uno R3 microcontroller. Also, there
package delivering missions. With the passage of time, are several sensors embedded with the microcontroller for
Arduino became a popular microcontroller in making the atmospheric condition monitoring and finding its altitude as
drones because of its flexibility in programming. Besides that, well as magnetometer and gyro cum accelerometer sensors for
additional sensors like a camera; an ultrasonic sensor can be finding out exact position of a quadcopter. The sensors are
attached to the drones. This helped the drones in calculating connected to a Wi-Fi based microcontroller IC such that it will
distance from the ground which previously were unable to automatically transmit the sensor details as and when required.
achieve. This revolutionary addition increased its popularity So, remote monitoring is easily achievable. The developed
several times. The drones could now be used in way point system is designed keeping in mind that the circuitry becomes
navigation systems. The coordinates of the waypoints for less complex and the cost remains low. Also there will be a
predetermined flight is fed to the microcontroller. An one touch return button designed such that it may return to its
algorithm is used to calculate the distance between the present base location by pressing a single button. So, the quadcopter
GPS position to the first waypoint and heading angle of the can never be lost. This type of system can find its application
present position with respect to geographical north. In this for remote real-time atmospheric condition monitoring of
process, succeeding waypoints are calculated and the quad several areas specifically for crop production and irrigation
rotor altitude control is done by the controller generated pulse without installing the sensors at each and every location [21].
width modulated (PWM) signal which can be used for security Also, if a camera is installed then it can be used for
surveillance, fire suppression, and for terrain mapping [8-9]. surveillance applications.
Also, similar other models are made using FY90
microcontroller and are used in coast guard surveillance and III. BLOCK DIAGRAM
rescue missions [10]. Infrared sensors attached to the drones The block diagram of the designed system is shown in Fig. 1.
could search for live targets in rescue missions [11]. The other The components required to develop the system is described
demand of these drones is in the field of agriculture where it is below.
used for crop surveillance, fertilizer spraying and in precision A. ARDUINO UNO MICROCONTROLLER
agriculture. The infrared sensor attached to the drones could Arduino Uno microcontroller refers to an open-source
identify the healthy crops from infected ones. These drones electronics platform which can easily be programmed using
reduced the human efforts and increased the monitoring software even by non-background persons and create an

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interactive object environment. In this system, an Arduino Uno
R3 microcontroller is used to control the quadcopter flight
dynamics.

Fig. 2 (b). Real-time snapshot of the quadcopter system

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The values of different sensors after interfacing with Arduino
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the designed system Uno R3 microcontroller were displayed at the particular port
on the serial monitor of Arduino IDE (Fig. 3). Then, the ESCs
B. MPU 6050 (3-AXIS ACCELEROMETER & GYROSCOPE) were interfaced with the microcontroller. After developing the
MPU 6050 contains a 3-axis gyroscope as well as a 3-axis entire setup, wireless communication was established between
accelerometer which allows measurement of both the the quadcopter control transmitter module held at the user end
parameters independently around the same axes. Thus it and the quadcopter receiver module connected with the
eliminates the issue regarding cross-axis errors using individual quadcopter control board. Finally, the calibration and setup of
sensors. In this work, MPU 6050 IC is used to help in the quadcopter is achieved through transmitter-receiver
balancing the flight of the quadcopter and maintain its flight communication module and controlling of the motors at
dynamics. different rotational speeds was attained.
C. 3-AXIS MAGNETOMETER (HMC5883L)
HMC5883L is a 3-axis magnetometer compass, which uses
I2C communication mode. This is a five pin IC having a
compass heading accuracy of 1° to 2°, provided by internal 12-
bit ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter). In this developed
system, a 3-axis magnetometer has been used to help the
quadcopter judge the direction to where it is going.
All the individual components of the quadcopter were bought
from the market as per the specification described above.
After that interfacing of individual sensors with Arduino Uno
R3 microcontroller was done (Fig. 2(a).) and also the
developed system was calibrated. Then, all the required
connections of Arduino with different sensors were made to
make the quadcopter fly. Then the quadcopter setup
communication was established with the transmitter-receiver Fig. 3. 3-Axis angle values at serial monitor
module used and also the calibration of ESCs was made.
The sensor outputs are shown in TABLE I which shows a
Moreover, the flight controller program was uploaded on
sample serial monitor output.
Arduino Uno microcontroller board and controlling of the
quadcopter is achieved through transmitter. This is how the TABLE I. SENSOR OUTPUT VALUES
communication setup was established between the sensors and
the microcontroller board and the real-time snapshot of the Sl. No. Sensors Parameters Displayed Values
developed system is shown in Fig. 2 (b). Gyro (X axis) 4.519 °
Gyro (Y axis) 10.710 °
Gyro (Z axis) 14.702 °
1. MPU 6050
Acc (X axis) 9.077g
Acc (Y axis) 0.028g
Acc (Z axis) 1.054g
2. HMC5883L Heading Angle 23.2409 °

Fig. 2 (a). Real-time connection with microcontroller board

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 V. CONCLUSION Electronics Engineering, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia,
July, 2012.
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