Vellore Institute OF Technology, BHOPAL

CSA2002 Introduction to Drones

(School of Computer Science &

Engineering)
Ankit Shrivastava
Vellore Institute Of Technology (VIT),
Bhopal, India
 Unit- 3
Drone
Controllers
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 Building Mission Control Drones:
We have built a DIY drone using ArduPilot. We will first set
up our existing drone for doing surveys.

Surveying with the Drone:

Step-1: Prepare the Drone for flying using ArduPilot. No

hardware changes.
Step-2: Open the MissionPlanner software:
a. Go to the Config/Tuning page.
b. Select Planner.

Now we will see the following page.

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 The green pointer is the Home/H. Hover the
mouse over it, click and move the pointer
anywhere we want.

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 Step-3: Place the pointer from where we will
depart the drone to our destination.
RTL1= (x1,y1) (x2,y2) (x3,y3) (x4,y4)

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 Step-4: Return to Launch (RTL): In
WayPoints select the RTL option.
This is used to survey the areas which are
pointed and return to the launched place.
Step-5: Click “Add Below” on the WayPoints
Panel, then we will see a new waypoint.

Step-6: Click Command menu and Select

the RETURN_TO_LAUNCH option.
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 Set the WP radius between 2 and 5 meters
and the suitable Loiter Radius if you use a
Follow Me drone. Select perfect altitude in
the Default Alt box.

Make sure that your drone will fly, there are

no obstacles at that height and set the
altitude and slightly higher than that height.
If the region is hilly, or there are some
houses, then select the Verify Height Box for
avoiding obstacles.
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 Step-7: I want to hover my drone to these
selected points and see what is happening
there and come to the place from where I
launched the drone. So, I need to set the
Return to Launch (RTL) option on the
waypoints as shown in the fig.

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 Step-8: We can change the type of the Map
and add some extra features to the Map
from the right-side of the map.

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 Step-9: Load the mission to ArduPilot by
a. Connecting the drone to the computer via
telemetry or USB cable.
b. Check the correct COM port or select the Auto
mode.
c. Click on “Connect” button and select “Load
WP File”from the right-side of the map (or
right click on the map).
d. Select the WP file and Hit the “Write WPs”
button.

Now, we will see a pop-up message. The copter will

ready to fly.
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 Step-10: Your survey mission control drone is ready to do the survey in
the air.
You need to save the waypoint file to write it to ArduPilot. To do that
right-click on the map and go to the File Load | Save | Save WP File:

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 Step-11: The timing of hovering depends on
the speed selected on Config/Tuning
page.
You can change the type of map and add
some extra features to the map from the
right-side of the map as shown in figure.

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 Step-12: Now we all need to do is load the mission to ArduPilot. You can do this
by connecting the drone to the computer via telemetry or USB cable. Check for the
correct COM port or select the auto mode. Now click on the Connect button and
select the Load WP File from the right- side of the map (or right-click on the map).
Select the file we just saved and hit the Write WPs button. You will see a pop-up
msg. and after that your copter will memorize the places you just uploaded to it.
You can erase the memory by uploading another waypoint file or resetting the
waypoint:

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 Step 13: Arm it as Auto mode.
a. Go to Config/Tuning 🡪 select Flight Mode.

The drone will survey the WayPoints and come the Home.
Now, we can change any mode and hit the Save Modes button then
Fly the drone.

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 Using Drones and Delivery Man:
Aim: Ship or Drop a Package to a Destination by the
Drone.
- using Mission Planner Software
Modify the camera shutter button to drop a package from
out drone.
- Connect a Servo motor with ArduPilot.
- Trigger a signal to the channel for connect and move the
servo motor.
- If the Placeholder connected to the Servo, we can drop
the package from the placeholder by triggering the servo
from our remote or the Mission Planner Software.

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 Step-1: Connect the Servo motor.
- Use the ArduPilot one-four output channels.

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 Step-2: Connect the Camera Gimbal.
- In Mission Planner Software, Select Optional
Hardware and Camera Gimbal.

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 Step-3: Arm your drone and wait for it reach the destination. Then, from the
Flight Data screen, right-click on the map and click the Trigger Camera NOW
option:

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 Some other tweaks with the Flight Plan Screen:

You can select the waypoints from the

WayPoint panel, as shown before. When you
select a waypoint, the latitude and longitude
are added to the waypoint.

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 Communicate the Drone via ESP8266:
Aim: To aware of the weather and the environment for a
flight and mission.

Soln: Monitor the weather surrounding the drone by

look at the air pressure.

Requirements:
- A barometric pressure sensor (BMP 180 preferred)
- An Arduino (pro mini preferred)
- An ESP8266 transceiver module

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 Step-1: Configure the Arduino with
Barometer Sensor.

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 Step-2: Configure the Battery (3.3V) to the ESP8266.

Step-3: Download and Install barometer, ESP8266WiFi

Libraries to
Arduino/libraries folder.
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 Step-4: Define the drone’s Altitude to get correct pressure data.
#define ALTITUDE

Step-5: Declare the hardware as follows:

SFE_BMP180 bmp180;
Esp8266EasyIoT esp;

Step-6: To see temperature, pressure, and forecast in the server, define

Esp8266EasyIoTMsg msgTemp(CHILD_ID_TEMP, V_TEMP);
Esp8266EasyIoTMsg msgPress(CHILD_ID_BARO, V_PRESSURE);
Esp8266EasyIoTMsg msgForec(CHILD_ID_BARO, V_FORECAST);

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 Step-7: Setting Baud rates for the ESP8266. For debugging on the serial
monitor, add another Baud rate.
void setup( )
[Link](9600);
[Link](115200);
Step-8: Initialize the pressure sensor in the void setup( ) function, we need
to check the Barometer by adding a condition.
if ([Link]() )
[Link](“BMP180 initialization successful”);
else {
[Link](“BMP180 initialization failed”);
while(1); }

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 Step-9: Save the module after adding the sensor
parameters from the temperature and
pressure.

Step-10: Go to Config | User Info and set the

“Instance ID” for the module.

Step-11: Upload the code to the Arduino and check

the data shown in the server from the
Module list.
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 Photography Drone:
Before going on to build our photography drone, we will
discuss the usages and present photography drones in the
market, as well as the reason why you should build your
own photography drone. Let’s we will discuss the
following:

• Drone photography or aerial photography

• Connecting cameras to the drone
• Controlling cameras from the ground

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 ⚫ Taking photography from the sky is one of the most
exciting things in photography in the present year. You can
shoot from the sky from helicopters, planes or even from
satellites. However, you know that they are not cheap or
easy to utilize for taking photos, unless you have a personal
air vehicle.
⚫ If you want to see the some drone photography, you can go
to the following link:
[Link]

⚫ We will find out to build a customized photography drone

using ArduPilot and some photograph equipment. I am
mentioning one thing; there are few rules for flying the
drones. A few of them apply to photography drones, as they
are heavier than some other drones. Some of important
rules are as follows:
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 ▪ Your drone can not be flown over 400 feet, which is about
133 meters (don’t worry; this is high enough for aerial
photography. You can increase the limit by getting
permission from the corresponding department in your
country).

▪ Your drone must be always visible by you from your

ground station. This is known as Line of Sight (LOS).

▪ You cannot fly your drone near to any airports or

no-fly-zone areas.

▪ You cannot fly your drone over a crowd. It is risky. If you

are trying to take a group photo, then you should not fly
your drone over the heads of your subjects but take your
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photo from the front instead.
 ▪ Flying Photography drone is a kind of threat to
some people’s privacy. So, I think you should
respect that while flying your photography drones.

▪ Since drones got some negative publicity

in the press, I must warn you to be careful
with the laws and other privileges of the
citizens.

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 Assembling the photography Drone:

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 Connecting the Camera:

For a photography drone, connecting the

camera and controlling the camera is one of
the most important things. Your pictures and
videos will be spoiled if you cannot adjust the
camera and stabilize it properly. In our case,
we will use a camera gimbal to hold the
camera and move it from the ground.

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 Choosing a gimbal:

- Select the type of gimbal depends on the camera size

and specification.

- Types of Gimbal – Standard and Brushless

Standard – Servo motors and gears, lightweight.
(DSLR)
Brushless – Need external controller board, heavier,
used for professionals. (FPV)

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 The following picture shows a number of
gimbals:

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 Configure the Camera with the ArduPilot:

Configuring the camera with the ArduPilot is easy.

a. camera gimbal’s Euler angles:
▪ Tilt: This moves the camera sloping position (range -
90 degrees to + 90 degrees), it is the motion
(clockwise and anticlockwise) with the vertical
axis.
▪ Roll: This is a motion ranging from 0 degrees to 360
degrees parallel to the horizontal axis.
▪ Pan: This is same type motion of roll ranging from 0
degrees to 360 degrees but in the vertical axis.
▪ Shutter: This is a switch that triggers a click or sends
a signal.
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 b. Using Standard Gimbal:
- Two Servo motors in it. One for Pitch or Tilt, another
for Roll.
- Two-dimensional motion with the camera view point.

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 c. Gimbal configuration through Mission Planner:
Now connect your ArduPilot to your PC using wire or
telemetry.
Go to Initial setup menu and under Optional Hardware, you
will find another option called Camera Gimbal. Click on this
and you will see the following screen:

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 d. For Tilt change the pin RC11; for the Roll,
change the pin RC10; and for Shutter,
change it to CH7.
e. If you want to change the Tilt during the
flight from the transmitter, you need to
change the Input Ch of the Tilt. See the
following screenshot:

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 f. Now, you need to change an option in the
configuration | Extended Tuning Page. Set Ch6 Opt
to None, as in the following screenshot, and hit the
Write Params button:

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 g. Common fixes for poor video
• “Jello” effect (or) rolling shutter is a by-product of using a
camera with a CMOS sensor caused by vibration from
unbalanced propellers/motors and can be mitigated by
mounting the camera on soft rubber, silicone, foam ear
plugs.

• Digital and optical stabilization systems found in many

cameras often do not perform well because of the
vibrations.

• For better and smoother Yaw, use Expo control on your RC

and lower the Acro_Yaw_P gain in the ArduPilot.

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 Controlling the Camera Gimbal using ESP8266:
To control the camera, we can use two mechanism:
1. Shutter Pin
2. Mobile App

Shutter Pin: Manually used from the transmitter that connected with RC7 pin for controlling
a servo. We can use servo or a receiver switch to trigger the shutter. For point and shoot the
camera update the firmware of camera.
A receiver controller ON/OFF switch.
3 wires – Pins of the Servo motor: Yellow (Signal) – RC7 of ArduPilot
Red – +
Camera’s Data Cable
Tick – USBs +
GND – USBs –
2 wires – Battery (External)

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 Gimbal with two-servo motors controlled remotely
Requirements:

1. Servo Brcaket (To install the servos)

2. ESP8266 or NodeMCU
3. Two-serco motors (SG90 mini gear micro servo)
4. 5 V power supply
5. Smart phone
6. Router (for Wi-Fi connection)

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 Procedure:
1. Firstly, attach the servos to the bracket. Connect the
servos to the ESP8266, as follows:

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 2. Servos are connected to the GPIO pins of ESP82866.
It connect with GPIO-0 and GPIO-2 or D3 and D4.

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 3. Write the code for ESP82866.
a. Open Blynk App and create a New Project.
b. Provide Project Name
c. From Choose device, select NodeMCU or ESP82866.
d. Provide the authentication code for the Project which sent
our Email.

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 4. Next, swipe right to get the Widget Box and
choose Slider:

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 5. Give you slider a name. I gave servo 1 and
servo 2 for the two sliders we need:

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 6. Select a Virtual pin for each of the sliders. I choose V1 and V6.

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 7. Your final look of the project will look like
the following screenshot. You many
change the color from the slider
properties:

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 Let’s begin our coding to control the gimbal:

Write the code in Arduino IDE –

a. Include header files

#define BLYNK_PRINT Serial
#include <SPI.h>
#include <BlynkSimpleEsp82866.h>
#include <Servo.h>
#include <ESP82866WiFi.h>
b. Install ESP82866 Libraries.

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 c. Provide the authentication code for the project
(from Email), and
WiFi Name and Password for connection by
char auth[] = “*********”;
char ssid[] = “**********”;
char pass[] = “**********”;

d. Declare the Servos Servo s1, s2;

e. Initialize Setup, Blynk, and Servo Pins

[Link](9600);
[Link](auth, ssid, pass)
[Link](0);
54 [Link](2);
 f. Assign the virtual pins of the Blynk

BLYNK_WRITE(V1)
{
[Link]([Link]());
}

BLYNK_WRITE(V6)
{
[Link]([Link]());
}
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 g. Run the Blynk
In void loop() function insert the line
[Link]();
h. Verify and upload the code after connecting NodeMCU to the
computer.
i. From Blynk App, Run the Project. Now we will see the Slider as
j. Move the Slider Left and Right, we will see the Servo will move
00-1800

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 Flying and Taking Shots:

1. Lock the altitude to keep the drone at a steady height.

2. Fly parallel to the ground for stable shots.
3. Use a remote controller or mobile app for easy camera
control.
4. Using a switch and MissionPlanner: Connect the drone
via telemetry, go to "Flight Data", and trigger the camera
using the “Trigger Camera Now” option.
5. For a selfie, use a timer to execute the camera trigger in a
locked state.

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 Thank you

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