Flycamp

Inspiration

There have been at least two major Haz Mat disasters in the last 2 months or so. Tankers have derailed/overturned causing great harm to communities and ecosystems. First responders are often tasked with the difficult job of identifying and gauging the concentration and danger of the spilled chemicals

We wanted to build a fixed-wing drone that drops sensor payloads to help these responders get detailed information about concentration

What it does

Our plane (almost) flies. We were not able to generate enough thrust to take it off the ground, though we did develop software that tapped into an off-the-shelf game controller and relayed commands over the internet to an embedded linux SBC, which used an Arduino to address servos. Due to "integration hell" we weren't able to get all of these moving parts to work together, but we did have quite a few successes. For example, we successfully built the cardboard plane, operate and control the ESC, operate several control surfaces, create an airfoil using cardboard and 3d-printed parts.

How we built it

First, we built an airfoil using pizza boxes from dinner. These pizza boxes were a little greasy and we decided that some of the stuck-on toppings (olives, bell peppers, tomato sauce) weren't the best for drag or structural integrity. We also wanted longer pieces of continuous cardboard so we could have a larger wing and generate more lift. So we went to Walmart to gather some more tools, and found large sheets of cardboard meant for moving. We spent the next (uncountable) hours carefully designing and assembling plane.

A game controller talks to a Rust client/ground station which sends commands to a Rust server on an embedded linux machine. The embedded linux machine uses UART to send commands to an Arduino, which keeps track of all the servos and the speed controller on the brushless DC motor, which turns a 3d-printed propeller.

Challenges we ran into

The protocol that the ESC spoke didn't seem very well documented, in fact the manufacturer didn't say any specific protocol. We discovered it used some weird PWM thing.

Built With

• 3d-printing
• cardboard