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In Fall 2022, the firmware team rebranded to be embedded flight software, and with that change, followed through on the proposed project LOS proposal from summer 2022. We count the changes from the 2022 season as a “2.0” revision, and so we are now working on the ZP 3.0 Architecture!
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| Table of Contents |
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List of Abbreviations & Links
Abbr. | Full Name | Link |
|---|---|---|
PM | Path Manager | |
AM | Attitude Manager | |
TM | Telemetry Manager | |
LOS | Laminar OS | |
LOS_Core | Laminar OS Core Library | |
LOS_Driver | Laminar OS Drivers | |
LOS_Interface | Laminar OS Interfaces | |
ZP | Zeropilot as a whole | |
ZPHW | ZeroPilot Hardware | |
ZPSW | ZeroPilot Software (3.0) | |
Nucleo | Nucleo F401, L553, F7 | |
FRTOS | freeRTOS | |
FSM | Finite State Machine | |
CV | Computer Vision | |
EFS | Embedded Flight Software | |
GS | Ground Station |
General Introduction to ZPSW
ZP3-sw follows a structure loosely based off of the work done for the 2022 competition drone “Vanguard”, where more autonomy was given to Attitude Manager, and our codebase was expanded to support both fixed wing and multi rotor aircraft.
Understanding The Drone
The Drone Reference Frame
It’s important to understand the reference frame of the drone when we work between multiple modules. In our case, we have it defined as such:
+X = Forward
+Y = Right
+Z = Up
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Understanding the Managers
There are a few main components that are independent from each other in design and code. These are:
[PM] Path Manager:
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Page Tree Path Manager
Attitude Manager
Telemetry ManagerPath Manager 3.0
[AM] Attitude Manager: Attitude Manager 3.0
[TM] Telemetry Manager: <link>
Path Manager
PM handles path generation and the vast majority of the autopilot function of the aircraft. It communicates with TM and AM using FRTOS MailQueues.
Attitude Manager
AM handles the attitude management of a quadcopter or a fixed wing aircraft, and allows either PM or a teleoperator to control the drone. It communicates with TM and PM, as well as with the user through LOS_Link.
Telemetry Manager
TM will read data from both AM and PM, and produce an output struct that can be sent to ground and CV. This will be done using <insert method>.
TM will also receive data from CV & Groundside, and prepare this for PM & AM.
Common Interface Structs & Methods
AM ↔︎ PM
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typedef struct CommandsForAM_t{
WaypointType waypoint_type;
// heading unit vector and magnitude
float heading_dist_x;
float heading_dist_y;
float heading_dist_z;
float heading_magnitude; // Magnitude distance to waypoint target
double velocity_target; // Target velocity of drone approaching target
} CommandsForAM; |
The heading distances form a unit vector with the combined magnitude such that:
The vector in XYZ space has a magnitude of 1.
The heading magnitude is the distance to the target waypoint. (For use in times such as coordinated turns, etc.)
The velocity target is the desired speed for the drone to approach the waypoint (For use notably in takeoff and landing)