Drone Delivery

Goal

Build and develop a drone that can be used in the applications of last-mile delivery.

Subteams

1. Hardware: Build the physical drone, develop the controls algorithm for a flight controller.
2. Obstacle Avoidance: Plan a long term route, detect obstacles, and avoid them.
3. Flight Controller: Design and build a simple flight controller using Raspberry Pi PICOs.
4. Research: Identify the latest technologies in the field that can be used by the other team.
5. Mobile App: Build a mobile app that enables users to interface with the drone.

Technology

Drone hardware

• Motors: T-Motor U7 V2.0
  • 6 total
  • 4.55kg Lift / Motor
  • Over 27kg of Thrust!
  • 47.5A Draw at 100% Throttle
• Props: Tarot 1855
  • 18’’ Diameter
  • 5.5’’ Pitch
  • Carbon fiber
• Frame: Tarot T960
  • Hexacopter Configuration
  • 960mm Diameter
• Battery: Tattu Plus LiPo Battery Pack
  • 22000mAh
  • 25C Discharge Rate
  • 6S
  • 22.2V
• Power Delivery (ESC): xRotor 40A
  • 60A Max Current
  • Rated for 6S LiPo (22.2V)
• Flight Controller: Custom controller.
  • Based on Raspberry PI Pico.
  • 3 axis Gyro, and 3 axis acclereometer.
• Camera: Intel RealSense D453
  • Stereoscopic Depth Sensing
  • < 2% Error Within 2m
• Companion Computer: Jetson Nano
  • Quad-core AMD Cortex
  • 4GB Onboard Memory
  • 128 Cuda Cores
• Infrared sensor: TBD
  • Used to find precise distance from ground to see if landing area is safe.
• Camera rotator/gimbal
  • Will rotate camera from forward-facing to downwards to ensure safe landing area.
  • Stabilization of camera during flight to minimize noise in optical data
• Parcel container
  • Structure
    • Minimize impact on aerodynamic performance
    • Safe to access for users
  • Food Preservation
    • Keep food hot, or cold, to ensure minimal loss in quality during delivery

Drone software

• PX4: PX4 is the firmware that runs on the Pixhawk 6c. It controls and recieves data all of the motors and sensors attached.
• QGroundControl: QGroundControl is the application used to connect to, configure, and program the drone to fly autonomously.
• Robot Operating System (ROS):
• MAVSDK:
• MAVLink: