Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management

The Aerial Surveillance Drone is a quadrotor controlled by a mobile application

and a microcontroller programmed to identify and follow suspicious targets while

transmitting pictures and video taken by an onboard camera over the internet

Power and Weight Management ndash Samantha Kenyon

Colin Donahue

Samantha Kenyon

Jason Lowden

Benjamin Wheeler

January 9 2013

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 2

Table of Contents I Overview 3

II Requirements Specification 3

A Marketing Requirements 3

B Engineering Specifications 3

C Analysis of Engineering Specification 3

III Risk Investigation 4

A Existing Systems 4

B Concepts Selected and Rationale 4

IV Risk Mitigation Design 6

A Overviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

B Quadrotor 6

C Microcontroller 6

D Camera 7

E Total 8

F Flight Timehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8

G Weighthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

H Design Diagramhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

V Parts List 10

VI Testing Strategy 11

VII Uncertainties 11

VIII Appendecieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 3

I Overview The system needs to be able to record and send video as well as be controlled by alternative devices

This requires extra components be added The system needs to be able to power all of these

components as well as maintain flight These added components pose a risk to both the power

management of the system and the overall flight ability based on the overall weight of the system In

order for this project to be successful these problems must be solved

II Requirements Specification

A Marketing Requirements

1 Easily Portable ndash Must be able to transport easily to allow for flying in new areas

2 Low Weight - Cannot be too heavy in order to allow for easy transport

3 Low Cost - Since this system is for personal use and security it must be reasonable price for

the average person

a Enough Power to Sustain Flight - It must be able to remain in flight for a significant period of

time

B Engineering Specifications

Number Specification Associated Marketing

Requirements

1 The total weight of the system will not exceed 1 pound 1 2 5

3 The cost of the system shall not exceed $400 3

7 The system will operate on full charge for at least 8 minutes 9 11

C Analysis of Engineering Specification

Number Justification

1 The system needs to be easily portable Anything heavier than this amount could make the system hard to transport A system that is too heavy will require more powerful motors and will have reduced flight time Keeping the weight of the system low will allow it to operate longer and be more maneuverable

3 The cost must remain affordable for an average person and presently the cost of systems such as this exceeds $400

7 The system must be able to remain in flight long enough to be controlled to get to a location or to identify potential threats Many systems of this type remain in flight for 5 minutes

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 4

III Risk Investigation

A Existing Systems There are two different ways that surveillance on a quadrotor system There are systems that hold

external cameras

The Draganflyer X4 has a module in which one of three styles of camera can be placed so that video and

photos can be captured during flight These cameras are self powered and self sustained In this system

the camera is completely separate from the quadrotor and this does not allow for streaming back to the

controller

Another way that this is done is using a camera that is integrated with the system

The Parrot AR Drone 20 is a quadrotor with a built in 1280 x 720 front facing camera that interfaces

back to the controller This camera is integrated into the quadrotor using some form of power from

within the device

B Concepts Selected and Rationale

The system should stream video back to the controller from a camera integrated with the device This is

similar to the second existing system The first system is too limiting for our system It allows for

recording video and then reviewing if after flight but there is no way to review the footage during the

flight

Camera

Originally the system was going to stream HD video Through research this idea was disregarded early

on There are very few options for streaming HD video with small devices and these devices are all

expensive

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 5

The Hack HD 1080p camera module is one of only a few options It requires a 37V supply and has a

video out pin that can send a live feed It also records to an SD card This component has limited

availability and goes over the project budget For this reason the system will not be streaming at HD

quality

The HP web-cam deluxe will be proficient to stream video from the device to the controller

This is a chosen component because it has relatively high resolution a max of 1280 X 1024 as well as a

small current draw It is also available to us from the remnants of a previous project This can interface

with other devices through USB which is very helpful

Microcontroller

There are many available microcontroller options to choose from WiFi is being used to transmit data

therefore a microcontroller with WiFi capabilities is needed A microcontroller that is able to power the

HP web-cam through a USB port is also needed To narrow down the search I focused on what was

available to us The Gumstix Overo Fire COM can be used with this project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 6

This microcontroller is available to us also from a previous project and it has everything needed for the

system It has both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it has flexibility in regards to communication It

also has a camera connector and USB This Gumstix also comes with an IO board that can be used to

interface with other devices The Pinto-TH expansion board has 6 analog-to-digital converts along with

6 pulse width modulators and 8 GPIO lines These all provide flexibility to use the microcontroller to

control the quadrotor if needed Since this microcontroller has everything needed and is available free

of charge there is no need to look any further This is the best available option

IV Risk Mitigation Design

A Overview

Power consumption is extremely important part of the design The following design calculations show

that all of these components can be used together and use the battery supplied by the quadrotor The

consumption of each component must be analyzed to show this

B Quadrotor

The quadrotor itself has a stock battery with the following specifications

Amp Hours Discharge Rating

500 mAh 12C

This battery needs to power the four motors of the quadrotor as well as the other components within

the quadrotor The following table shows the current draw of the quadrotor with no load

Average Current Draw Max Current Draw

27 A 37 A

The stock batter on the quad rotor has a voltage of 37V This results in a power consumption shown

below

Average Power Consumption Max Power Consumption

999 W 1369 W

C Microcontroller

The Gumstix microcontroller can at its peak of performance use 700 mA of current The microcontroller

will definitely be used for WiFi transmission and the CPU will also be used It is difficult to find precise

measurements of the current draw for these values however it can be approximated

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 7

Component Approximate Current Draw

CPU 250- 400 mA

WiFi (Max) 275 mA

Total (Max) 675 mA

This microcontroller needs an input voltage of at least 27V but a max of 45V This results in the

following overall power consumption

Minimum Power Consumption Maximum Power Consumption

18225 W 303765 W

D Camera

The power consumption of the camera depends on the resolution of the camera at any given time On

average the camera draws somewhere between 100 and 120 mA while active The relationship between

current and resolution is shown below

Resolution Approximate Current Draw

320 x 240 110 mA

640 x 480 103 ndash 117 mA

1280 x 1024 120 mA

The camera needs to be powered with 5V

Resolution Approximate Power Consumption

320 x 240 055 W

640 x 480 0515 ndash 0585 W

1280 x 1024 06 W

Since the battery provided with the quadrotor is only 37V another battery will be needed It is easiest to

just add another battery of the same type to the quadrotor and connect it in series with the previous

value This will retain the capacity of the original battery but double the voltage to 74V which is enough

to power the camera The batteries should be connected as shown below

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 8

E Total

All of the individual components need to be powered at their maximum current draw

Component Approximate Max Current Draw

Helicopter 37 A

Gumstix 675 mA

Camera 120 mA

Total 4495 A

All of the individual components and their maximum power consumption

Component Max Power Consumption

Quadrotor 1369 W

Microcontroller 303765 W

Camera 06 W

Total (max) 1732765 W

F Flight Time

The system should be able to maintain flight for 8 minutes The battery used to power the quad rotor

should be enough to power all of the components based on these power calculations The challenge

now is determining for how long this battery can provide them all power Using the following equation

this time can be determined

Current Draw (A) Flight Time (min)

27 1111

37 8108

4495 6674

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 2

Table of Contents I Overview 3

II Requirements Specification 3

A Marketing Requirements 3

B Engineering Specifications 3

C Analysis of Engineering Specification 3

III Risk Investigation 4

A Existing Systems 4

B Concepts Selected and Rationale 4

IV Risk Mitigation Design 6

A Overviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

B Quadrotor 6

C Microcontroller 6

D Camera 7

E Total 8

F Flight Timehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8

G Weighthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

H Design Diagramhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

V Parts List 10

VI Testing Strategy 11

VII Uncertainties 11

VIII Appendecieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 3

I Overview The system needs to be able to record and send video as well as be controlled by alternative devices

This requires extra components be added The system needs to be able to power all of these

components as well as maintain flight These added components pose a risk to both the power

management of the system and the overall flight ability based on the overall weight of the system In

order for this project to be successful these problems must be solved

II Requirements Specification

A Marketing Requirements

1 Easily Portable ndash Must be able to transport easily to allow for flying in new areas

2 Low Weight - Cannot be too heavy in order to allow for easy transport

3 Low Cost - Since this system is for personal use and security it must be reasonable price for

the average person

a Enough Power to Sustain Flight - It must be able to remain in flight for a significant period of

time

B Engineering Specifications

Number Specification Associated Marketing

Requirements

1 The total weight of the system will not exceed 1 pound 1 2 5

3 The cost of the system shall not exceed $400 3

7 The system will operate on full charge for at least 8 minutes 9 11

C Analysis of Engineering Specification

Number Justification

1 The system needs to be easily portable Anything heavier than this amount could make the system hard to transport A system that is too heavy will require more powerful motors and will have reduced flight time Keeping the weight of the system low will allow it to operate longer and be more maneuverable

3 The cost must remain affordable for an average person and presently the cost of systems such as this exceeds $400

7 The system must be able to remain in flight long enough to be controlled to get to a location or to identify potential threats Many systems of this type remain in flight for 5 minutes

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 4

III Risk Investigation

A Existing Systems There are two different ways that surveillance on a quadrotor system There are systems that hold

external cameras

The Draganflyer X4 has a module in which one of three styles of camera can be placed so that video and

photos can be captured during flight These cameras are self powered and self sustained In this system

the camera is completely separate from the quadrotor and this does not allow for streaming back to the

controller

Another way that this is done is using a camera that is integrated with the system

The Parrot AR Drone 20 is a quadrotor with a built in 1280 x 720 front facing camera that interfaces

back to the controller This camera is integrated into the quadrotor using some form of power from

within the device

B Concepts Selected and Rationale

The system should stream video back to the controller from a camera integrated with the device This is

similar to the second existing system The first system is too limiting for our system It allows for

recording video and then reviewing if after flight but there is no way to review the footage during the

flight

Camera

Originally the system was going to stream HD video Through research this idea was disregarded early

on There are very few options for streaming HD video with small devices and these devices are all

expensive

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 5

The Hack HD 1080p camera module is one of only a few options It requires a 37V supply and has a

video out pin that can send a live feed It also records to an SD card This component has limited

availability and goes over the project budget For this reason the system will not be streaming at HD

quality

The HP web-cam deluxe will be proficient to stream video from the device to the controller

This is a chosen component because it has relatively high resolution a max of 1280 X 1024 as well as a

small current draw It is also available to us from the remnants of a previous project This can interface

with other devices through USB which is very helpful

Microcontroller

There are many available microcontroller options to choose from WiFi is being used to transmit data

therefore a microcontroller with WiFi capabilities is needed A microcontroller that is able to power the

HP web-cam through a USB port is also needed To narrow down the search I focused on what was

available to us The Gumstix Overo Fire COM can be used with this project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 6

This microcontroller is available to us also from a previous project and it has everything needed for the

system It has both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it has flexibility in regards to communication It

also has a camera connector and USB This Gumstix also comes with an IO board that can be used to

interface with other devices The Pinto-TH expansion board has 6 analog-to-digital converts along with

6 pulse width modulators and 8 GPIO lines These all provide flexibility to use the microcontroller to

control the quadrotor if needed Since this microcontroller has everything needed and is available free

of charge there is no need to look any further This is the best available option

IV Risk Mitigation Design

A Overview

Power consumption is extremely important part of the design The following design calculations show

that all of these components can be used together and use the battery supplied by the quadrotor The

consumption of each component must be analyzed to show this

B Quadrotor

The quadrotor itself has a stock battery with the following specifications

Amp Hours Discharge Rating

500 mAh 12C

This battery needs to power the four motors of the quadrotor as well as the other components within

the quadrotor The following table shows the current draw of the quadrotor with no load

Average Current Draw Max Current Draw

27 A 37 A

The stock batter on the quad rotor has a voltage of 37V This results in a power consumption shown

below

Average Power Consumption Max Power Consumption

999 W 1369 W

C Microcontroller

The Gumstix microcontroller can at its peak of performance use 700 mA of current The microcontroller

will definitely be used for WiFi transmission and the CPU will also be used It is difficult to find precise

measurements of the current draw for these values however it can be approximated

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 7

Component Approximate Current Draw

CPU 250- 400 mA

WiFi (Max) 275 mA

Total (Max) 675 mA

This microcontroller needs an input voltage of at least 27V but a max of 45V This results in the

following overall power consumption

Minimum Power Consumption Maximum Power Consumption

18225 W 303765 W

D Camera

The power consumption of the camera depends on the resolution of the camera at any given time On

average the camera draws somewhere between 100 and 120 mA while active The relationship between

current and resolution is shown below

Resolution Approximate Current Draw

320 x 240 110 mA

640 x 480 103 ndash 117 mA

1280 x 1024 120 mA

The camera needs to be powered with 5V

Resolution Approximate Power Consumption

320 x 240 055 W

640 x 480 0515 ndash 0585 W

1280 x 1024 06 W

Since the battery provided with the quadrotor is only 37V another battery will be needed It is easiest to

just add another battery of the same type to the quadrotor and connect it in series with the previous

value This will retain the capacity of the original battery but double the voltage to 74V which is enough

to power the camera The batteries should be connected as shown below

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 8

E Total

All of the individual components need to be powered at their maximum current draw

Component Approximate Max Current Draw

Helicopter 37 A

Gumstix 675 mA

Camera 120 mA

Total 4495 A

All of the individual components and their maximum power consumption

Component Max Power Consumption

Quadrotor 1369 W

Microcontroller 303765 W

Camera 06 W

Total (max) 1732765 W

F Flight Time

The system should be able to maintain flight for 8 minutes The battery used to power the quad rotor

should be enough to power all of the components based on these power calculations The challenge

now is determining for how long this battery can provide them all power Using the following equation

this time can be determined

Current Draw (A) Flight Time (min)

27 1111

37 8108

4495 6674

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 3

I Overview The system needs to be able to record and send video as well as be controlled by alternative devices

This requires extra components be added The system needs to be able to power all of these

components as well as maintain flight These added components pose a risk to both the power

management of the system and the overall flight ability based on the overall weight of the system In

order for this project to be successful these problems must be solved

II Requirements Specification

A Marketing Requirements

1 Easily Portable ndash Must be able to transport easily to allow for flying in new areas

2 Low Weight - Cannot be too heavy in order to allow for easy transport

3 Low Cost - Since this system is for personal use and security it must be reasonable price for

the average person

a Enough Power to Sustain Flight - It must be able to remain in flight for a significant period of

time

B Engineering Specifications

Number Specification Associated Marketing

Requirements

1 The total weight of the system will not exceed 1 pound 1 2 5

3 The cost of the system shall not exceed $400 3

7 The system will operate on full charge for at least 8 minutes 9 11

C Analysis of Engineering Specification

Number Justification

1 The system needs to be easily portable Anything heavier than this amount could make the system hard to transport A system that is too heavy will require more powerful motors and will have reduced flight time Keeping the weight of the system low will allow it to operate longer and be more maneuverable

3 The cost must remain affordable for an average person and presently the cost of systems such as this exceeds $400

7 The system must be able to remain in flight long enough to be controlled to get to a location or to identify potential threats Many systems of this type remain in flight for 5 minutes

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 4

III Risk Investigation

A Existing Systems There are two different ways that surveillance on a quadrotor system There are systems that hold

external cameras

The Draganflyer X4 has a module in which one of three styles of camera can be placed so that video and

photos can be captured during flight These cameras are self powered and self sustained In this system

the camera is completely separate from the quadrotor and this does not allow for streaming back to the

controller

Another way that this is done is using a camera that is integrated with the system

The Parrot AR Drone 20 is a quadrotor with a built in 1280 x 720 front facing camera that interfaces

back to the controller This camera is integrated into the quadrotor using some form of power from

within the device

B Concepts Selected and Rationale

The system should stream video back to the controller from a camera integrated with the device This is

similar to the second existing system The first system is too limiting for our system It allows for

recording video and then reviewing if after flight but there is no way to review the footage during the

flight

Camera

Originally the system was going to stream HD video Through research this idea was disregarded early

on There are very few options for streaming HD video with small devices and these devices are all

expensive

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 5

The Hack HD 1080p camera module is one of only a few options It requires a 37V supply and has a

video out pin that can send a live feed It also records to an SD card This component has limited

availability and goes over the project budget For this reason the system will not be streaming at HD

quality

The HP web-cam deluxe will be proficient to stream video from the device to the controller

This is a chosen component because it has relatively high resolution a max of 1280 X 1024 as well as a

small current draw It is also available to us from the remnants of a previous project This can interface

with other devices through USB which is very helpful

Microcontroller

There are many available microcontroller options to choose from WiFi is being used to transmit data

therefore a microcontroller with WiFi capabilities is needed A microcontroller that is able to power the

HP web-cam through a USB port is also needed To narrow down the search I focused on what was

available to us The Gumstix Overo Fire COM can be used with this project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 6

This microcontroller is available to us also from a previous project and it has everything needed for the

system It has both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it has flexibility in regards to communication It

also has a camera connector and USB This Gumstix also comes with an IO board that can be used to

interface with other devices The Pinto-TH expansion board has 6 analog-to-digital converts along with

6 pulse width modulators and 8 GPIO lines These all provide flexibility to use the microcontroller to

control the quadrotor if needed Since this microcontroller has everything needed and is available free

of charge there is no need to look any further This is the best available option

IV Risk Mitigation Design

A Overview

Power consumption is extremely important part of the design The following design calculations show

that all of these components can be used together and use the battery supplied by the quadrotor The

consumption of each component must be analyzed to show this

B Quadrotor

The quadrotor itself has a stock battery with the following specifications

Amp Hours Discharge Rating

500 mAh 12C

This battery needs to power the four motors of the quadrotor as well as the other components within

the quadrotor The following table shows the current draw of the quadrotor with no load

Average Current Draw Max Current Draw

27 A 37 A

The stock batter on the quad rotor has a voltage of 37V This results in a power consumption shown

below

Average Power Consumption Max Power Consumption

999 W 1369 W

C Microcontroller

The Gumstix microcontroller can at its peak of performance use 700 mA of current The microcontroller

will definitely be used for WiFi transmission and the CPU will also be used It is difficult to find precise

measurements of the current draw for these values however it can be approximated

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 7

Component Approximate Current Draw

CPU 250- 400 mA

WiFi (Max) 275 mA

Total (Max) 675 mA

This microcontroller needs an input voltage of at least 27V but a max of 45V This results in the

following overall power consumption

Minimum Power Consumption Maximum Power Consumption

18225 W 303765 W

D Camera

The power consumption of the camera depends on the resolution of the camera at any given time On

average the camera draws somewhere between 100 and 120 mA while active The relationship between

current and resolution is shown below

Resolution Approximate Current Draw

320 x 240 110 mA

640 x 480 103 ndash 117 mA

1280 x 1024 120 mA

The camera needs to be powered with 5V

Resolution Approximate Power Consumption

320 x 240 055 W

640 x 480 0515 ndash 0585 W

1280 x 1024 06 W

Since the battery provided with the quadrotor is only 37V another battery will be needed It is easiest to

just add another battery of the same type to the quadrotor and connect it in series with the previous

value This will retain the capacity of the original battery but double the voltage to 74V which is enough

to power the camera The batteries should be connected as shown below

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 8

E Total

All of the individual components need to be powered at their maximum current draw

Component Approximate Max Current Draw

Helicopter 37 A

Gumstix 675 mA

Camera 120 mA

Total 4495 A

All of the individual components and their maximum power consumption

Component Max Power Consumption

Quadrotor 1369 W

Microcontroller 303765 W

Camera 06 W

Total (max) 1732765 W

F Flight Time

The system should be able to maintain flight for 8 minutes The battery used to power the quad rotor

should be enough to power all of the components based on these power calculations The challenge

now is determining for how long this battery can provide them all power Using the following equation

this time can be determined

Current Draw (A) Flight Time (min)

27 1111

37 8108

4495 6674

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 4

III Risk Investigation

A Existing Systems There are two different ways that surveillance on a quadrotor system There are systems that hold

external cameras

The Draganflyer X4 has a module in which one of three styles of camera can be placed so that video and

photos can be captured during flight These cameras are self powered and self sustained In this system

the camera is completely separate from the quadrotor and this does not allow for streaming back to the

controller

Another way that this is done is using a camera that is integrated with the system

The Parrot AR Drone 20 is a quadrotor with a built in 1280 x 720 front facing camera that interfaces

back to the controller This camera is integrated into the quadrotor using some form of power from

within the device

B Concepts Selected and Rationale

The system should stream video back to the controller from a camera integrated with the device This is

similar to the second existing system The first system is too limiting for our system It allows for

recording video and then reviewing if after flight but there is no way to review the footage during the

flight

Camera

Originally the system was going to stream HD video Through research this idea was disregarded early

on There are very few options for streaming HD video with small devices and these devices are all

expensive

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 5

The Hack HD 1080p camera module is one of only a few options It requires a 37V supply and has a

video out pin that can send a live feed It also records to an SD card This component has limited

availability and goes over the project budget For this reason the system will not be streaming at HD

quality

The HP web-cam deluxe will be proficient to stream video from the device to the controller

This is a chosen component because it has relatively high resolution a max of 1280 X 1024 as well as a

small current draw It is also available to us from the remnants of a previous project This can interface

with other devices through USB which is very helpful

Microcontroller

There are many available microcontroller options to choose from WiFi is being used to transmit data

therefore a microcontroller with WiFi capabilities is needed A microcontroller that is able to power the

HP web-cam through a USB port is also needed To narrow down the search I focused on what was

available to us The Gumstix Overo Fire COM can be used with this project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 6

This microcontroller is available to us also from a previous project and it has everything needed for the

system It has both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it has flexibility in regards to communication It

also has a camera connector and USB This Gumstix also comes with an IO board that can be used to

interface with other devices The Pinto-TH expansion board has 6 analog-to-digital converts along with

6 pulse width modulators and 8 GPIO lines These all provide flexibility to use the microcontroller to

control the quadrotor if needed Since this microcontroller has everything needed and is available free

of charge there is no need to look any further This is the best available option

IV Risk Mitigation Design

A Overview

Power consumption is extremely important part of the design The following design calculations show

that all of these components can be used together and use the battery supplied by the quadrotor The

consumption of each component must be analyzed to show this

B Quadrotor

The quadrotor itself has a stock battery with the following specifications

Amp Hours Discharge Rating

500 mAh 12C

This battery needs to power the four motors of the quadrotor as well as the other components within

the quadrotor The following table shows the current draw of the quadrotor with no load

Average Current Draw Max Current Draw

27 A 37 A

The stock batter on the quad rotor has a voltage of 37V This results in a power consumption shown

below

Average Power Consumption Max Power Consumption

999 W 1369 W

C Microcontroller

The Gumstix microcontroller can at its peak of performance use 700 mA of current The microcontroller

will definitely be used for WiFi transmission and the CPU will also be used It is difficult to find precise

measurements of the current draw for these values however it can be approximated

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 7

Component Approximate Current Draw

CPU 250- 400 mA

WiFi (Max) 275 mA

Total (Max) 675 mA

This microcontroller needs an input voltage of at least 27V but a max of 45V This results in the

following overall power consumption

Minimum Power Consumption Maximum Power Consumption

18225 W 303765 W

D Camera

The power consumption of the camera depends on the resolution of the camera at any given time On

average the camera draws somewhere between 100 and 120 mA while active The relationship between

current and resolution is shown below

Resolution Approximate Current Draw

320 x 240 110 mA

640 x 480 103 ndash 117 mA

1280 x 1024 120 mA

The camera needs to be powered with 5V

Resolution Approximate Power Consumption

320 x 240 055 W

640 x 480 0515 ndash 0585 W

1280 x 1024 06 W

Since the battery provided with the quadrotor is only 37V another battery will be needed It is easiest to

just add another battery of the same type to the quadrotor and connect it in series with the previous

value This will retain the capacity of the original battery but double the voltage to 74V which is enough

to power the camera The batteries should be connected as shown below

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 8

E Total

All of the individual components need to be powered at their maximum current draw

Component Approximate Max Current Draw

Helicopter 37 A

Gumstix 675 mA

Camera 120 mA

Total 4495 A

All of the individual components and their maximum power consumption

Component Max Power Consumption

Quadrotor 1369 W

Microcontroller 303765 W

Camera 06 W

Total (max) 1732765 W

F Flight Time

The system should be able to maintain flight for 8 minutes The battery used to power the quad rotor

should be enough to power all of the components based on these power calculations The challenge

now is determining for how long this battery can provide them all power Using the following equation

this time can be determined

Current Draw (A) Flight Time (min)

27 1111

37 8108

4495 6674

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 5

The Hack HD 1080p camera module is one of only a few options It requires a 37V supply and has a

video out pin that can send a live feed It also records to an SD card This component has limited

availability and goes over the project budget For this reason the system will not be streaming at HD

quality

The HP web-cam deluxe will be proficient to stream video from the device to the controller

This is a chosen component because it has relatively high resolution a max of 1280 X 1024 as well as a

small current draw It is also available to us from the remnants of a previous project This can interface

with other devices through USB which is very helpful

Microcontroller

There are many available microcontroller options to choose from WiFi is being used to transmit data

therefore a microcontroller with WiFi capabilities is needed A microcontroller that is able to power the

HP web-cam through a USB port is also needed To narrow down the search I focused on what was

available to us The Gumstix Overo Fire COM can be used with this project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 6

This microcontroller is available to us also from a previous project and it has everything needed for the

system It has both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it has flexibility in regards to communication It

also has a camera connector and USB This Gumstix also comes with an IO board that can be used to

interface with other devices The Pinto-TH expansion board has 6 analog-to-digital converts along with

6 pulse width modulators and 8 GPIO lines These all provide flexibility to use the microcontroller to

control the quadrotor if needed Since this microcontroller has everything needed and is available free

of charge there is no need to look any further This is the best available option

IV Risk Mitigation Design

A Overview

Power consumption is extremely important part of the design The following design calculations show

that all of these components can be used together and use the battery supplied by the quadrotor The

consumption of each component must be analyzed to show this

B Quadrotor

The quadrotor itself has a stock battery with the following specifications

Amp Hours Discharge Rating

500 mAh 12C

This battery needs to power the four motors of the quadrotor as well as the other components within

the quadrotor The following table shows the current draw of the quadrotor with no load

Average Current Draw Max Current Draw

27 A 37 A

The stock batter on the quad rotor has a voltage of 37V This results in a power consumption shown

below

Average Power Consumption Max Power Consumption

999 W 1369 W

C Microcontroller

The Gumstix microcontroller can at its peak of performance use 700 mA of current The microcontroller

will definitely be used for WiFi transmission and the CPU will also be used It is difficult to find precise

measurements of the current draw for these values however it can be approximated

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 7

Component Approximate Current Draw

CPU 250- 400 mA

WiFi (Max) 275 mA

Total (Max) 675 mA

This microcontroller needs an input voltage of at least 27V but a max of 45V This results in the

following overall power consumption

Minimum Power Consumption Maximum Power Consumption

18225 W 303765 W

D Camera

The power consumption of the camera depends on the resolution of the camera at any given time On

average the camera draws somewhere between 100 and 120 mA while active The relationship between

current and resolution is shown below

Resolution Approximate Current Draw

320 x 240 110 mA

640 x 480 103 ndash 117 mA

1280 x 1024 120 mA

The camera needs to be powered with 5V

Resolution Approximate Power Consumption

320 x 240 055 W

640 x 480 0515 ndash 0585 W

1280 x 1024 06 W

Since the battery provided with the quadrotor is only 37V another battery will be needed It is easiest to

just add another battery of the same type to the quadrotor and connect it in series with the previous

value This will retain the capacity of the original battery but double the voltage to 74V which is enough

to power the camera The batteries should be connected as shown below

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 8

E Total

All of the individual components need to be powered at their maximum current draw

Component Approximate Max Current Draw

Helicopter 37 A

Gumstix 675 mA

Camera 120 mA

Total 4495 A

All of the individual components and their maximum power consumption

Component Max Power Consumption

Quadrotor 1369 W

Microcontroller 303765 W

Camera 06 W

Total (max) 1732765 W

F Flight Time

The system should be able to maintain flight for 8 minutes The battery used to power the quad rotor

should be enough to power all of the components based on these power calculations The challenge

now is determining for how long this battery can provide them all power Using the following equation

this time can be determined

Current Draw (A) Flight Time (min)

27 1111

37 8108

4495 6674

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 6

This microcontroller is available to us also from a previous project and it has everything needed for the

system It has both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it has flexibility in regards to communication It

also has a camera connector and USB This Gumstix also comes with an IO board that can be used to

interface with other devices The Pinto-TH expansion board has 6 analog-to-digital converts along with

6 pulse width modulators and 8 GPIO lines These all provide flexibility to use the microcontroller to

control the quadrotor if needed Since this microcontroller has everything needed and is available free

of charge there is no need to look any further This is the best available option

IV Risk Mitigation Design

A Overview

Power consumption is extremely important part of the design The following design calculations show

that all of these components can be used together and use the battery supplied by the quadrotor The

consumption of each component must be analyzed to show this

B Quadrotor

The quadrotor itself has a stock battery with the following specifications

Amp Hours Discharge Rating

500 mAh 12C

This battery needs to power the four motors of the quadrotor as well as the other components within

the quadrotor The following table shows the current draw of the quadrotor with no load

Average Current Draw Max Current Draw

27 A 37 A

The stock batter on the quad rotor has a voltage of 37V This results in a power consumption shown

below

Average Power Consumption Max Power Consumption

999 W 1369 W

C Microcontroller

The Gumstix microcontroller can at its peak of performance use 700 mA of current The microcontroller

will definitely be used for WiFi transmission and the CPU will also be used It is difficult to find precise

measurements of the current draw for these values however it can be approximated

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 7

Component Approximate Current Draw

CPU 250- 400 mA

WiFi (Max) 275 mA

Total (Max) 675 mA

This microcontroller needs an input voltage of at least 27V but a max of 45V This results in the

following overall power consumption

Minimum Power Consumption Maximum Power Consumption

18225 W 303765 W

D Camera

The power consumption of the camera depends on the resolution of the camera at any given time On

average the camera draws somewhere between 100 and 120 mA while active The relationship between

current and resolution is shown below

Resolution Approximate Current Draw

320 x 240 110 mA

640 x 480 103 ndash 117 mA

1280 x 1024 120 mA

The camera needs to be powered with 5V

Resolution Approximate Power Consumption

320 x 240 055 W

640 x 480 0515 ndash 0585 W

1280 x 1024 06 W

Since the battery provided with the quadrotor is only 37V another battery will be needed It is easiest to

just add another battery of the same type to the quadrotor and connect it in series with the previous

value This will retain the capacity of the original battery but double the voltage to 74V which is enough

to power the camera The batteries should be connected as shown below

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 8

E Total

All of the individual components need to be powered at their maximum current draw

Component Approximate Max Current Draw

Helicopter 37 A

Gumstix 675 mA

Camera 120 mA

Total 4495 A

All of the individual components and their maximum power consumption

Component Max Power Consumption

Quadrotor 1369 W

Microcontroller 303765 W

Camera 06 W

Total (max) 1732765 W

F Flight Time

The system should be able to maintain flight for 8 minutes The battery used to power the quad rotor

should be enough to power all of the components based on these power calculations The challenge

now is determining for how long this battery can provide them all power Using the following equation

this time can be determined

Current Draw (A) Flight Time (min)

27 1111

37 8108

4495 6674

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 7

Component Approximate Current Draw

CPU 250- 400 mA

WiFi (Max) 275 mA

Total (Max) 675 mA

This microcontroller needs an input voltage of at least 27V but a max of 45V This results in the

following overall power consumption

Minimum Power Consumption Maximum Power Consumption

18225 W 303765 W

D Camera

The power consumption of the camera depends on the resolution of the camera at any given time On

average the camera draws somewhere between 100 and 120 mA while active The relationship between

current and resolution is shown below

Resolution Approximate Current Draw

320 x 240 110 mA

640 x 480 103 ndash 117 mA

1280 x 1024 120 mA

The camera needs to be powered with 5V

Resolution Approximate Power Consumption

320 x 240 055 W

640 x 480 0515 ndash 0585 W

1280 x 1024 06 W

Since the battery provided with the quadrotor is only 37V another battery will be needed It is easiest to

just add another battery of the same type to the quadrotor and connect it in series with the previous

value This will retain the capacity of the original battery but double the voltage to 74V which is enough

to power the camera The batteries should be connected as shown below

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 8

E Total

All of the individual components need to be powered at their maximum current draw

Component Approximate Max Current Draw

Helicopter 37 A

Gumstix 675 mA

Camera 120 mA

Total 4495 A

All of the individual components and their maximum power consumption

Component Max Power Consumption

Quadrotor 1369 W

Microcontroller 303765 W

Camera 06 W

Total (max) 1732765 W

F Flight Time

The system should be able to maintain flight for 8 minutes The battery used to power the quad rotor

should be enough to power all of the components based on these power calculations The challenge

now is determining for how long this battery can provide them all power Using the following equation

this time can be determined

Current Draw (A) Flight Time (min)

27 1111

37 8108

4495 6674

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 8

E Total

All of the individual components need to be powered at their maximum current draw

Component Approximate Max Current Draw

Helicopter 37 A

Gumstix 675 mA

Camera 120 mA

Total 4495 A

All of the individual components and their maximum power consumption

Component Max Power Consumption

Quadrotor 1369 W

Microcontroller 303765 W

Camera 06 W

Total (max) 1732765 W

F Flight Time

The system should be able to maintain flight for 8 minutes The battery used to power the quad rotor

should be enough to power all of the components based on these power calculations The challenge

now is determining for how long this battery can provide them all power Using the following equation

this time can be determined

Current Draw (A) Flight Time (min)

27 1111

37 8108

4495 6674

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 9

This table shows that on average the quad rotor without any of these components can be powered for

around 11 minutes At the maximum current draw it can remain powered for 8 minutes Finally with all

of the components added to it the system can remain powered with that battery for a minimum of 6

minutes This is with the maximum current being drawn from the components This allows for some

variation in that number and the assumption that on average the flight time will be larger than 6

minutes but less than 8 minutes This shows however that it is possible to do this with an acceptable

flight time although it may be necessary to adjust the engineering specifications to match this outcome

G Weight

Weight is an important factor when working with systems that fly The system can only withstand a

certain payload value before it is unable to maintain or even reach any altitude When adding

components onto the system this is something that must be considered Each of the components

chosen is very low in weight

Component Weight (g)

Gumstix 11 g

Camera 10 g

Battery (Extra) 20 g

Total (payload) 41 g

Since the camera is already stripped down from its original form it is extremely low weight The board

portion itself weighs only 4 g where as the USB cable weighs 6 grams The Gumstix microcontroller also

is very low in weight The total of these two components is 21 grams The extra battery adds another 20

grams to the payload This means that the quadrotor needs to be able to fly with an extra 41 grams

attached to it Based on the testing done so far this is possible The system has successfully carried a

load of 598 grams therefore 41 grams should be possible

H Overall Design Diagram

The extra battery now requires that there is a voltage regulator before both the microcontroller and the

camera to ensure that the correct amount of voltage is applied to both devices The following diagram

shows the components connected together for power Voltage regulator 1 is a 33V voltage regulator

that can take a voltage value below 15V and produce an output voltage of 33V perfect for the

microcontroller Voltage regulator 2 would be a 5V voltage regulator that can take a voltage in the range

of 7 ndash 35 V and produce a 5V output which is perfect for the camera These regulators are very small ad

have no effect on weight

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 10

The microcontroller will be placed underneath the quadrotor next to the batter and will then be

connected to the battery The camera will then be connected to the microcontroller and placed

underneath that facing down as shown below

There are no existing patents for this design

V Parts List

Component Description Cost Our Cost

Availability

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller $19999 $0 Helicopter Project

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam $2495 $0 Helicopter Project

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 11

500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Elite Battery

$849 $849 Available ndash delivery in 1 week

5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C $125 $125 Available - delivery in 1 week

33V Voltage Regulator LD111733 $125 $195 Available - delivery in 1 week

Total Cost $26363 $1169

VI Testing Strategy

To further test power consumption it is necessary to connect all of the components and actually

measure current draw and total power The numbers given here are just estimates based on data sheets

and expertise from others who have used these components before They are not measured values

with the exception of the current draw of the quadrotor with no load These values need to be

measured once they are connected together to ensure that they remain within these ranges The

current draw of each component while they are all running in their maximum stage needs to be

measured All of these components are available so this test should occur within the next 2 weeks by

12313

Also the quad rotor needs to be tested with different weights As flying the quadrotor becomes easier

the flight time can be tested Currently only tested its ability to fly with a given payload has been tested

not the duration of that flight It is necessary to add weight and fly the quadrotor for as long as possible

and record that time This test should be done within 1 week by 11613

VII Uncertainties

The uncertainty that I have now is the flight time I found that at maximum load the system can only

power all of the components for 6 minutes This is less than our desired 8 but something I believe is still

acceptable for the project however this was assuming the quadrotor draws the same amount of current

with no load as it would with the load This is an incorrect assumption The load will affect the current

draw of the quadrotor because it will need more power to carry more weight Therefore it can be

assumed that with the load the flight time will be less than 6 minutes How much less it will be is

something that needs to be tested and determined If it cannot sustain flight for at least 5 minutes our

implementation will need to be reconsidered

Another uncertainty is the addition of sensors We have not yet discussed this much as a group

however additional sensors will be needed for other portions of the project These sensors will need to

be powered and will also require a higher payload for the system I do believe that the numbers shown

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119

Aerial Surveillance Drone Power Management 12

here should allow for additional sensors to be powered with the battery but the flight time will be

affected

VIII Appendices

Parrot AR Drone 20

httpwwwbrookstonecomparrot-ar-drone-2-

quadricopterbkiid=SubCategory_Games___Toys_Electronic_Toys_Remote_Control_Toys|SubCat

egoryWidget|786406pampcatId=

Draganflyer X4

httpwwwdraganflycomuav-helicopterdraganflyer-x4

Sparkfun Hack HD 1080p Camera Module

httpswwwsparkfuncomproducts11418

Gumstix Overo Fire COM Microcontroller

httpswwwgumstixcomstoreproduct_infophpproducts_id=227

HP 80 MP Deluxe Webcam

httpreviewscnetcomwebcamshp-8-0-mp4507-6502_7-33311003html

Overall Reference for Gumstix and Webcam

httpwwwceriteduresearchprojects2010_fallAutonomous_Surveillance_Helicopterdocu

mentationdocumentationhtml

Sparkfun 5V Voltage Regulator microA7805C

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLM7805pdf

Sparkfun 33V Voltage Regulator LD111733

httpswwwsparkfuncomdatasheetsComponentsLD1117V33pdf

Newegg 500mAh 1-Cell 37V 12C LiPo 120SR Battery

httpwwwneweggcomProductProductaspxItem=01Z-003H-00119