Architecture Meeting 1
Purpose
The purpose of this initial architecture meeting is to iron out various blockers that may be faced by subteams for development.
This meeting will aim to create a source of truth for the entire team regarding how different modules interface with each other, and how the entire project will be built together.
Priorities
Determine relevant actuators, motors, and general placement in order to provide more insight to Mechanical team as the frame is being designed
Determine how different components between EFS and CV communicate with one another, including protocol and format. This includes:
ZP3 - Sensors
ZP3 - Ground
ZP3 - Jetson
Antenna - Ground Station
General
cameras
video transmission
Â
Mechanical subsys:
Airframe motor / battery / prop / servo
tracking antenna
Tuning rig
CV Reqs
Data telem (airside, gs)
Path planning (gs)
Autonomous Landing (airside)
groundstation
Firmware Reqs
flight computer
actually flying drone
auto landing/takeoff
battery management
simple path planning
telemetry to ground, telemetry to air (jetson - zp)
position (gps/imu)
Peripherals
rfd900 ↔︎ RC Link
gps
imu
airspeed
optical flow
time of flight
sd card
Â
tracking antennas (gs)
EE Reqs
ZP3 primary & interface
Power Distribution Board (COTS)
wiring harness (battery connectors & power distribution)
LED’s
Tuning Rig
has to exist for the competition frame.
able to isolate 1 axis at a time.
nice to have: multiple axis (pitch/roll).
idiot proof.
rotation around CG.
Does not have to fit in the bay? → probably will not @Conall Kingshott
Imacs
Telemetry & Command/Control
uplink to and from drone done on rfd900 (for rc-link & telemetry).
Zp ↔︎ Rfd900
distributes to:
jetson
from ground: nothing. If a waypoint is selected from ground, it will go to ZP.
To ground: CV program status
Hover: Locations of interest (maybe path planning e.g. waypoints?)
Landing: Landing pad location (given a single time to ZP so that it can initiate landing sequence, Jetson has no control after)
ZP from ground: next waypoint, killswitch, rc link
Zp to ground: altitude, groundspeed, battery levels, vertical speed, heading, lat, lon, motor outputs, throttle percentages, motor draw? GPS Position RC Link status, logging data
Tracking antennas x2, w/nucleos.
Â
Video Link
1.3ghz vtx
Â
Airframe
comms
rfd900 → ground
UART to ZP
PPM to ZP
ZP ↔︎ Jetson
UART between
The idea is drone hover and hands the control over to cv and cv makes gives GPS data back to ZP and makes zp drive the drone to that GPS location. Then ZP initializes the landing sequence.
Â
Sensors & Peripherals
Vn-300 → zp
2 antennas very far apart
center around COM
aligned with axis
Comms to ZP over UART
Mateksys OFS → zp
pointed downard, no need to be centered
not at the very bottom (prevent bottom out)
Uart or SPI?
NEO M.8 GPS→ zp
horizontal, pointing up. RF Transparency towards sky
UART/SPI - using SPI
BMX160 IMU → zp
center around COM
aligned with axis
I2C
TBS airspeed → zp
in clean air facing forwards
SPI
Â
airspeed → px5
in clean air facing forwards
UART
NEO M.8 GPS → px5
horizontal, pointing up. RF Transparency towards sky
UART
Mateksys OFS → px5
pointed downards, not centered.
not at the very bottom (prevent bottom out)
SD Card
SPI for nucleo
SDMMC For ZP3
Â
pilot cam → splitter
facing forward
unobstructed view
maybe have it on adjustable tilt?
pilot cam → splitter
pointed downwards
pilot cam splitter → vtx
vtx takes 12 V
picam → jetson
centered wrt landing gear.
don’t break the camera in a crash.
facing downwards (otherwise on an axis).
Arm - Disarm button
away from props
→ zp.
--
Mechanical Requirements
Actuators
Motors: ( 5 )
quad 4
same as vanny (~ 40A each)
same ESC’s as vanny (51A rated)
same props as vanny (17x4.5)
1 push
16*8 APC prop
~ 100A burst, ~ 40-50 cruise?
running 6s.
Servos ( 8 ) 5V
2 rudder
1-2 for elevator
2 per aileron = 4
cabin door actuator
Power Architecture
VTX takes 12V
Servos 5V + 5-10A?
Jetson 9-14V + 1.667A at 12V (20W) according to specs
PX5 5V
ZP 7V minimum (2W)
Custom 12-5V conversion?
Two separate 5V buses
Servos (noisy)
Sensors
Batteries
6S:
With a step down to 5V
servos & other noisy things
3S:
With a step down to 5V
sensors & other stuff
Wiring
try to make harness?
Â
Airside Comms
System states:
Travel to waypoint (close to waypoint, wakes Jetson)
ZP autopilot
CV groundside ONLY
Search for landing pad
CV airside ONLY
Receives position, altitude, orientation from ZP
Receives request from ZP
Gives relative instructions to ZP (3m north, 1m west, 2m up)
Ability to abort movement??? (I saw something, freeze!)
ZP autopilot
Slow feedback loop
Landing at pad
ZP only
ZP
needs waypoint list (flight / travel phase)
needs size of waypoint list
once airside finds landing pad, needs boolean flag to start landing stage
needs relative landing suggestions. (search & landing)
Waypoint list:
Provided by CV groundside
Waypoint 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
Waypoint:
GPS coordinate (so the waypoint list is a list of GPS coordinates).
Groundside
form of waypoints that competition has given us. Click each waypoint based on what competition is. Send list of waypoints to the drone.
autopilot or not & override
waypoints only.
needs way to generate the waypoints to fly to and give them to ZP in real time.
what about diversion for task 1?
waypoint ID=0 is current aircraft location.
every other waypoint follows from waypoint ID=0.
send new flight plan each time.
Old flight plan discarded.
Zeropilot handles transition → will request jetson to give control.
Airside
also handles search.
goes through geolocation program and tells you where to land ?
relative motion only.
relative translational movement
request for altitude.
Geolocation
altitude, orientation
alt from px5 baroms.
or alt from sensors?
Request - response format.
different message formats? How deal with structs / messages
gets position data from ZP.
zp send constant
makes unique request & waits for response.
Â