Vertical-flying for image capture : using a Raspberry Pi 2 + self-assembled drone

Abstract

The popularity of do-it-yourself (DIY) drones has been on the rise in the past few years. The simplicity and ease of setting up a DIY drone has led to more individuals picking up the hobby, be it for drone racing or for aerial photography and videography. However, with the hardware limitations on a typical radio transmitter, camera control functionalities such as the shutter button, changing of camera mode etc. are not able to be executed on a normal DIY drone. These drone users typically start the recording of their video before take-off. The purpose of this project is to look at the current technologies behind a drone and using the knowledge, replace the typical radio receiver with a Raspberry Pi as well as the typical radio transmitter with a self-written Android application program. The type of communication between a radio receiver and flight controller is examined and replicated by the Raspberry Pi. The messages received from the Android device is then translated into the appropriate values which are then relayed to the flight controller which ultimately controls and propels the propellers to fly the drone. After the initial controlling of the drone is established, the connection between a GoPro and mobile device is examined. The Raspberry Pi will then replicate the mobile device to control the GoPro device while the drone is in mid-flight. This is an improvement on current DIY drones as the user is able to take pictures and separate video shots during flight time. The results show that it is possible to use the Raspberry Pi to replace a typical radio receiver. This opens up a whole new range of possibilities as new research can be carried out on top of this project to make use of the computational capabilities of the Raspberry Pi to further improve the functionalities of a DIY drone.