Drone Delivery

Developing an drone that autonomously delivers packages.

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:

Fall 2022 Progress Updates

A general summary of all the progress that was made in the Fall of 2022.

Pre-flight path planning

How we plan the path the drone will take before it takes flight

Last modified February 5, 2023: Updated index.md (54bed39)