UAS Sensor Placement on a Non-Racing and a Racing UAV Platform


The sensor placement on a small UAV is dependent on the objective for which the vehicle was designed and manufactured to achieve. There are many areas in and around a UAV for which sensor may be placed but the engineering and design phase incorporates which sensors will be used, what function it must perform, and what location the sensor will be placed around the vehicle in order to receive the most effective use during its operation.
The type of UAV is important due to the type of activity or end result the user/operator want to obtain from the UAV. The research for this assignment entails the sensor placement of two platforms, one being a non-racing UAV and the other a racing UAV. Details and differences in the sensor placement, and function will be briefly discussed in the research.

The non-racing platform I chose was the DJI Phantom 4 Pro. I chose the DJI Phantom 4 due to the long reputation that DJI has in producing a quality small UAV product with the latest designs installed into their vehicles. The Phantom contains camera CMOS sensors which aid in video and photography during live movement of the object at high speeds or during the movement of the UAV. The vehicle also contains sensors at the rear for further vision capabilities as well as incursion prevention as stated by DJI “The flight autonomy system adds dual rear vision sensors and infrared sensing systems for a total of five-directions of obstacle sensing and four-directions of obstacle avoidance” (DJI, 2017). The sensor placement around the DJI Phantom Pro-4 are located in the front, rear, left, and right side areas around the vehicle. Placement of sensors according to DJI “creates a total of five-directions of obstacle sensing and four-directions of obstacle avoidance, protecting the Phantom 4 Pro from more obstacles giving filmmakers the confidence to capture more complex images” (DJI, 2017). The DJI Phantom Pro-4 provides the sensors at these locations in order to allow the user/operator the freedom to further concentrate on producing quality videos and photos instead of being too concerned with the UAV having a collision with an obstacle.

The racing platform I chose is the Black Darter 250 produced by Dragon Fly Racing Drones. I chose the Black Darter 250 due to its available options given the price. The vehicle is easy to use for beginners but can also be custom ordered for the more advanced operator/controller. The vehicle package was designed for racing and contains extra accessories. The construction of the vehicle is lightweight in order to provide quick flight times. The vehicle also includes options such as “carbon fiber w/fiberglass sandwich technology, 362 gram frame weight, 4 optional motors, extra plastic training props, flight controller options, transmitter, and battery charger” (Dragon Fly Racing Drones, 2017). The sensors placement on the racing drone variant are far different from what is offered on the DJI Phantom Pro 4. The sensors on the Black Darter are proprioceptive within the internal flight controller systems offered. The sensors communicate direction, and speed, as stated by Liang “Naze32 uses a MPU6050 sensor chip (gyro + accelerometer) and CC3D uses the MPU6000. The MPU6050 is a better sensor in theory” (Liang, 2016). The camera positions are manually manipulated from two angle options as opposed to the Phantom Pro 4. Sensor options are not a huge concern for the UAV racing platforms due to the added weight incurred by the additional sensors further yielding a negative effect on race performance power depletion, and final results outcome.

References

Black Darter 250. (2014). Black Darter 250 FPV Racing Drone V3. Dragon Fly Drones,
Retrieved from http://www.dragonflyracingdrones.com/product/black-darter-250-ready-to-fly/ 

Liang, O. (2016). Naze 32 Vs CC3D Flight Controller Difference Comparison. HardwareComparison, Retrieved from https://oscarliang.com/naze32-vs-cc3d-better/

Phantom 4 Pro. (DJI, 2017). DJI Store. Phantom 4 Pro Overview,
Retrieved from http://store.dji.com/product/phantom-4-pro?                             utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=dji&utm_content
=DJI%20Phantom%204%20Pro&utm_campaign=ADD

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Operational Risk Management Assessment

Image
The Blog entry for this week focuses on Risk Management and the tools used to study hazards, hazards analysis, and tracking mitigating actions to address or eliminate those hazards. Tools used in this Operational Risk Management are: PHL (Preliminary Hazard List), PHA (Preliminary Hazard Assessment), and the OHR&A (Operational Hazard Review and Analysis. Preliminary Hazard List (PHL)  The sUAS (small Unmanned Aircraft System) I decided to perform my Operational Risk Management Analysis on is the DJI Pro Phantom 4 during staging. The scenario activities that it will be used to perform is capturing video or photos of real estate home for sale. The PHL (preliminary hazard list) is a risk management tool which provides and in-depth view of the risk being evaluated at various steps in the operation of a sUAS. “The PHL is a brainstorming tool to identify initial safety issues early in the UAS operation” (Marshall, et al., 2011, p. 125). The PHL I developed for my scenario focuses o
Read more

MQ-9 Reaper GCS Analysis

Image
Functional Operation Analysis The Ground Control Station Functional Operation subject I have chosen to perform my analysis is on the MQ-9 Reaper. The Reaper is an extended mission UAS which performs mission such as Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), support, and weapons strike thru the use of its mounted missiles or bombs payload. The Reaper’s precision weapons inventory are described as “Air-to-Ground Missile (AGM)-114 Hellfire missiles which provide highly accurate, low collateral damage” (Air Force, 2015). An analysis made of the ground control station functional operation of the MQ-9 Reaper displays 14 monitors surrounding the pilot in control (PIC) or operator and the co-pilot or sensors operator. The monitor displays are arranged directly in front view of the operators and to the left of the pilot and to the right of the sensors operator. Measurements of the displays range in sizes from 10-inch to 17-inch screen sizes. The pilot and sensor controller
Read more

Ethics and Morals Of Unmanned Systems Usage in Warfare

The use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in remote warfare is a technological benefit which should continue to be used today and well into the future. The operation of UAS to perform the same missions which manned aircraft would perform provides a monetary savings benefit and also removes the pilot from the cockpit resulting in no danger or the possibility of loss of life which may sometimes result from operating a manned aircraft. However, there are both ethical and moral issues involved in the use of UAS to perform military missions in which human targets of interest are eliminated by an aircraft which is operated by a remote pilot thousands of miles away. Issues surrounding the acts of war conducted in areas populated by civilians has increased the danger of military missions due to the difficulty of distinguishing between civilians and enemy combatants “This trend has blurred the line between combatants and civilians and made it difficult to distinguish between legitimate and
Read more