DRON

Overview

The Disaster Response Observation Network (DRON) is a proof-of-concept initiative that aims to leverage unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to gather intelligence during structural fires to aide first responders in their scene assessment and emergency response.

Autonomous swarm functionality allows DRON to assist in emergency situations with minimal required human input. DRON is designed around ease of use, speed of deployment, and quality of data gathered and presented.

Mechanical

DRON is designed to balance weight, structural stability, and modularity to withstand the high stress involved in a flight, namely torque from the propellers and internal stresses from payloads, and continue to function in order to complete a mission. DRON has adopted the use of carbon fiber tubes in the arms in the next V4 design to minimize potentially devastating vibrations during flight that can cause failure. All of our parts are connected via heat inserts and screws for ease of repair.

Visual

The software has the role of managing communications between components, detecting hotspots, and 3D mapping the environment. Two stereo cameras were successfully calibrated to capture depth of their surroundings. Stereo images are published through a ROS2 node into Unity where they are visualized. The software stack relies on many modules and libraries for flight control, data gathering, image processing, and environment visualization in 3D.

Autonomy

UAV autonomy is being achieved via PX4 firmware simulation and deployment, and is interfacing with PX4 via the uORB messaging API. The team demonstrated multi-agent Software-In-The-Loop (SITL) simulation through Gazebo, with sensor output published to ROS 2.

Electrical

Configuring INAV as the centralized Ground Control Station (GCS) for use with the Flight Controller (FC) and Electric Speed Controller (ESC) stack. The GPS and IMU provide low-level waypoint based autonomy, and the Raspberry Pi collects sensor data and uses wifi to transmit data and receive flight commands. The battery selected is rated for 3000mAh and can deliver enough power to sustain maneuvering flight for ~12 min, and low speed flight and hovering for ~15 min.