Quadcopter Thrust Data Logger

Scientific domain

PE11: Materials Engineering


Keywords

Quadcopter


Home partner institution

University of Oradea


Technical staff available No
Remote access details No
Remote access available No
Open to external users No
Equipment Quadcopter thrust data logger
Open access to updated information database No
Online booking system details No
Online booking system available No
Description Equipment ID : 12, University ID : 7, year of purchase : 2017, type : equipment. Was developed a data logger to measure quadcopter thrust and to assist in flight stabilization. It is powered with 4 load cells sensor with 2 axis characterizations. A specific mechanical design and electronic board are embedded in the load cell with real time signal processing every second for each thrust. Quadcopter flight stability is achieved when all rotor-propeller generate equal thrust while hovering and throttling. For that, one needs to perform a speed adjustment for each rotor, trim calibration on remote control communication, and coefficient adjustment on PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) control tuning system. In data retrieval process, quadcopter was attached with data logger system at ground station with axis position of data logger parallel with axis position of quadcopter. Various speeds between 1200 rpm to 4080 rpm in throttle mode were analyzed to determine the stability of the resulting thrust. The thrust data logger as a monitoring system makes it easier to know the position error while the correction is done by PID control. Adjustment process showed thrust differences between rotors are not more than 0.5 N. The data verification read by the data logger shows the consistency of thrust value and is proved by repeated experiments with 118 seconds of sampling time for the same quadcopter control condition. The result of the tuning and calibration process using thrust data logger was validated by flying the quadcopter under no wind circumstances and the data from orientation sensor can be used to ensure the flight stability.