Arduino Based Quadcopter for Aerial Photography

A Project Study Proposal

Presented to

The Faculty of the College of Information Technology and Engineering

De La Salle Lipa

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the Course

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

by:

CORTEZ, JUSTINE RONALD R.

ENCIO, RODEMAR R.
KATIGBAK, JAN FED ERIC M.
SANGALANG, KYLE PATRICK L.
May 2019
 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Nowadays, technology is considered as the most vital thing in our lives, it makes

complicated things easier. Over the years, different technological invented tools had

been very useful and efficient in easing people’s lives. Earth today rotates around a

specific phrase: “continuous improvement”. Science and mathematics are never-ending.

At every discovery and creation, the man searches immediately for a secondary study.

In time the man learned even how to fly: a dream that in the past in which various

scientists even paid with their life to make it work.

Aviation started with tower jumping, kites, balloons and rotor wings. In the

present surrounding, however, people have frequent encounters with helicopters,

airplanes and, as the latest advancement the quadcopter, also known as drone.

Essentially, a drone is a flying robot made from a lightweight alloy mainframe and

controlled by a channeled controller that sends command to the drone. Different types

of drones were commonly used by military for surveillance, artillery spotting and battle

damage assessment but over the past decade the use of drones outside the military

has grown tremendously. We can think of drone as aerial data capture devices, each

one can potentially hold a huge amount of sensors although right now most of them

used for photography purposes only

Photography and technology developed together and drones are often

celebrated for their ability to capture a new vantage point on the world, revealing the
beauty of the Earth from high above; nonetheless, aerial photography paid high

contribution to history making awe-inspiring images of our planet, revealing the

devastating scale of natural disasters and tipping the scales in combat.

Currently, with social media as a vital factor in everyone’s life, people search for

the best quality of pictures to post travel and environmental pictures. However, the

biggest problem about drones is the output: resulting with blurry, out of focus, shake-y

and pixelated pictures. In non-aerial cameras, stabilizers help on improving the quality

of pictures, rendering a better focus to the subject, reducing motion to the picture,

retaining the ideal sharpness and giving justice to the real image captured.

Based on the interview conducted by the proponents with Mr. Ruel Katigbak,

owner of D’Ruel Portrait, aerial photography is very beneficial in today’s photography

business. Not only it captures breathtaking shots it also allows the photographer have a

new perspective in his shots. He also stated that a drone that will be used in aerial

photography must be stable so it can capture clear pictures above. In his 25 years in

photography business he specialized his skills in photograph but he hasn’t been

invested in buying a drone.

In line with this the proponents will design and develop an Arduino Based

Quadcopter for Aerial Photography that minimize the instability or motion blurs that

caused by camera movement.

Objectives Of The Study

The main objective of the study is to design and develop an Arduino Based

Quadcopter for Aerial Photography. The proponents aim to accomplish the following.

1. To prepare a project plan based on:

1.1 System requirements and specifications

1.2 Design Layout

1.3 Block/Schematic Diagrams

1.4 Flowchart

1.5 Bill of Materials

2. To develop the hardware of the project based on its design layout.

3. To develop the lines of codes for the software.

4. To test the system based on its functionality and reliability through

actual testing.
Operational Framework

In this part of paper will discuss the functionality of Arduino Based Quadcopter for Aerial

Photography. Including the components which will be used in fabricating the said topic.

Figure 1 show the flow of signals in a quadcopter.

Figure 1. Operational Framework:

Power source is needed to start the system, as you notice it is connected directly to

power distribution board which regulate the voltage into a different constant voltage.

Basically, power distribution board has a lot of different ports and pads, each port
corresponds all the components that needs power like the servo motor, speed controller

and stabilizer.The second one is the remote controller, it is an electronic device that

transmit radio frequency signals or commands to control the craft according to pilot’s

desire. As you can see in figure 1, the controller sends signals with the help of radio

frequency transmitter. Once the RF receiver received the signal, it goes directly to the

Arduino which interprets all the information and distributes the signals in corresponding

components.

Arduino serves as the brain of the system, it has a lot of different sensors that controls

every single motor by sending outputs to the speed controllers and the speed

controllers then sends output to the motor.

At the top of arduino is where the accelerometer located, it is responsible for the

balancing the camera. The way it work is that the arduino receives signal from

accelerometer and the arduino will send the command to servo motor driver to adjust it

and achieve the desired angle of the camera

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be beneficial for the following:

For the People in the Photography Business – This study will help the people who

are in the field of photography capture a panoramic view of pictures and videos.

Photographers can have breathtaking aerial shots while they are in the ground

controlling the drone. Drones will help them get more perspective even in tight spaces.

For the Media Industry – This study will help the employees in the media industry

provide an outstanding footage of places where it would be impossible to be obtained

due to safety, barriers and high cost issues. It would be less risky for the professionals

to have an actual footage of news report and advertisement.

For the researchers – This study will help the researchers to have a better

understanding on how drones work and how it will benefit the employees of the

business. Also, this will be essential to the researchers to introduce a more practical

and innovative use of drones that will able to utilize the capacity of these machine.

Moreover, this paper will also help the proponents learn how to make it effective in

different fields like photography, military and research.

For the future researchers – This study will provide the future researchers relevant

information that will serve as the basis for future studies and innovations. This paper

can also be used as a secondary data or source for those who aspire to pursue similar
study. Thus, this study is applicable for the future researchers to explore and address

the needs of the community.

Scope And Limitations

The purpose of this study is the Quadcopter with Arduino based stabilizer is to

minimize the instability or motion blurs that caused by camera movement. Image

stabilizer help to produce good still images and videos by ensuring that the path

between lens and sensor is perfectly aligned before the subject is captured, thus,

allowing the user to easily focus on image especially when the object is moving. This

type of stabilizer has a leveling system in order to find the center of camera and it is

compact enough to fit in small areas. Also, the study focuses on the positive effects of

drone and how it helps other businesses especially in the field of photography and

videography. Drone photography allows audio/video and images to be captured in first

person view that would normally be impossible to achieve. The development of this

technology has a big help primarily in the field of photography.

As regards the limitation of this paper, drones have a short flying time. Also,

battery life will last only for 10-20 minutes; it depends on the usage of the user. The

proponents will use the existing third party app for the camera. The connection has a

short range wireless capability of our RF transmitter and receiver. Also, the connection

of camera to phone depends on its wifi capability.

Definition of Terms

The key terms in the study are given the following conceptual and operational

definitions:

Arduino - is an open-source hardware and software company, project and user

community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and

microcontroller kits for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense

and control both physically and digitally.

Artillery spotting - observing the result of artillery or shell fire and providing corrective

targeting data to the firer.

Aviation - the flying or operating of aircraft.

Camera - a device for recording visual images in the form of photographs, film, or video

signals.

Camera stabilizer - A camera stabilizer, or camera–stabilizing mount, is a device

designed to hold a camera in a manner that prevents or compensates for unwanted

camera movement, such as "camera shake".

Drone - unmanned aerial vehicle is an aircraft without a human pilot on board.

Electronic speed controller - is an electronic circuit that controls and regulates the

speed of an electric motor.

Photography - is the art, application and practice of creating durable images by

recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an

image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic

film.

Power distribution board - is a component of an electricity supply system that divides

an electrical power feed into subsidiary circuits, while providing a protective fuse or

circuit breaker for each circuit in a common enclosure.

Propeller - a mechanical device for propelling a boat or aircraft, consisting of a

revolving shaft with two or more broad, angled blades attached to it.

Quadcopter - an unmanned helicopter having four rotors.

Remote control - control of a machine or apparatus from a distance by means of

signals transmitted from a radio or electronic device.

Rotor wings - lifting rotor or wing which spins to provide aerodynamic lift.

RPM - is the number of turns in one minute. It is a unit of rotational speed or the

frequency of rotation around a fixed axis.

Social media - websites and applications that enable users to create and share

content or to participate in social networking.