Development of a rotary-wing test bed for autonomous flight
dc.contributor.advisor | Jones, T. | |
dc.contributor.advisor | Milne, G. W. | |
dc.contributor.author | Groenewald, Stephanus | en_ZA |
dc.contributor.other | University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2006-10-11T06:57:04Z | en_ZA |
dc.date.accessioned | 2010-06-01T08:58:55Z | |
dc.date.available | 2006-10-11T06:57:04Z | en_ZA |
dc.date.available | 2010-06-01T08:58:55Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2006-03 | en_ZA |
dc.description | Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. | |
dc.description.abstract | This project developed a low-cost avionics system for a miniature helicopter to be used for research in the field of autonomous flight (UAVs). Previous work was done on a small, electrically powered helicopter with some success, but the overall conclusion was that the vehicle was underpowered. A new vehicle, the Miniature Aircraft X−Cell, was chosen for its ability to lift a larger payload, and previous work done with it by a number of other institutions. An expandable architecture was designed to allow sensors and actuators to be arbitrarily added to the system, based on the CAN standard. A CAN sensor node was developed that could digitize 12 channels at up to 16 bit resolution and do basic filtering of the data. Onboard computing was provided by a PC/104 based computer running Linux, with additional hardware added to interface with the CAN bus and assist with timing. A simulation environment for the helicopter was evaluated and shown to provide a good test bed for the control of the helicopter. Finally, the avionics was used during piloted test-flights to measure data and judge the performance of both the modified helicopter and the electronics itself. | en_ZA |
dc.format.extent | 10646435 bytes | en_ZA |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en_ZA |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2814 | |
dc.publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch | |
dc.rights.holder | University of Stellenbosch | |
dc.rights.holder | University of Stellenbosch | |
dc.subject | Theses -- Electronic engineering | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Dissertations -- Electronic engineering | en_ZA |
dc.subject.lcsh | Helicopters -- Control systems | en_ZA |
dc.subject.lcsh | Drone aircraft | en _ZA |
dc.title | Development of a rotary-wing test bed for autonomous flight | en_ZA |
dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |