Turning the Parrot AR.Drone into an autonomous UAV There are loads of open source quadcopters out there, but they're all a bit too DIY for me--I just want something cheap that works right out of the box. I love the Parrot AR.Drone, which fits that bill, but it's not really a UAV, because you can't give it waypoints and it doesn't know where it is since it doesn't have GPS. Adding GPS to the AR.Drone would be easy if you could get access to the datastream the AR.Drone is sending back via WiFi, and there is indeed a physical port that could allow that, but Parrot has not enabled that and they don't want to emphasize that possibility for fear that the AR.Drone might get regulated as a UAV, rather than a flying toy. So rather than wait for them to turn that on, I decided to take matters into my own hands. As you can see above, I just added an ArduPilot, a GPS and an Xbee to the AR.They're powered by a tap off the balancing connector of the quad's battery, but otherwise they don't have any connection to the onboard electronics.

(Note: you don't really need ArduPilot for this--you could probably connect the GPS right to the Xbee--but I'm using it right now to parse the GPS data and just send down the essentials, along with providing a power regulator for the Xbee and GPS module. But going forward, having ArduPilot onboard will let us add other sensors and do more onboard processing.) All this setup does is send back GPS coordinates to the ground station, with an Xbee at each end. parrot ar drone og wi fi b gBut that's enough to turn the AR.parrot ar drone dogfightDrone into a proper UAV, since Parrot has already released software that lets you control the AR.parrot ar drone ekşiDrone from a PC. parrot ar drone vision alert

So all we need to do is modify that code to take the GPS telemetry in from the Xbee, compare that with given waypoints, and calculate a directional vector for the AR.Drone to fly to hit the next waypoint. Then that XYZ command can be sent back to the AR.Drone via WiFi using the Parrot data standard. So in a sense, the AR.Drone handles the inner loop (stabilization) of an autopilot onboard, but the outer loop (navigation) we'll do from the ground station, along with image processing and other mission planning. parrot ar drone 2 spare partsBecause the outer loop only needs to run at GPS speed (1Hz-4Hz), wireless latency isn't an issue.parrot ar drone reset Right now, the only official AR.Drone PC ground station is for Linux (here), which is a bit over my head. But now that the quads are getting out to developers, I'm sure someone will port that to Windows, at which point I can have a go at writing the software to read the incoming Xbee data from the serial port and turn it into flying commands to send back via WiFi.

3 members like this < Previous Post Next Post > Sign Upor Sign In Or sign in with:I've got my own flying drone. I'm basically the CIA and a spaceman all in one civilian package. I'm going to fly a drone, I'm going to get arrested, and I'm going to be a hero." After pulling one of Parrot's AR Drones out of the box and experiencing this understandable reaction, you start to think about what you're really dealing with—a flying robot, controlled by your phone, with a camera that records the world below as if you're sitting in a tiny cockpit.An affordable four-prop remote-controlled drone with an HD camera and a wide-angle lens.Aviation dabblers who want to look over their neighbors' fences.DesignAn insectoid pod, about one square foot, with an orange color scheme near the toy end of the aesthetic spectrum.Using ItThe first minute is magical—with a single button press, your own little drone hops a meter into the air. And just sits there. Next, you fly that fucker right into a wall.

The Best PartIt's a flying drone with a built-in camera. You own a drone.Tragic FlawNeither of the cameras—the front facing 720p one or the lower-resolution cam that points straight down—are any sort of magic. (Think cell phone camera from 5 years ago.)The tilt-to-control flight interface is so instinctive that it is borderline overwhelming. It tilts just like I tilt my phone?Test NotesFlying an AR Drone makes you feel like a robotic Peeping Tom crossed with a cybernetic monk with a splash of soon-to-be-killed Call of Duty side-story operative.I broke the hell out of the Styrofoam indoor hull pretty much as soon as I started screwing around with it.You can buy replacement hulls for about $45—a lot of scratch for something that's almost certainly going to be trashed multiple times, especially by a novice. (Good news: glue is still available.)I lost it off the roof of a midtown NYC building. I let it fly too far away from me and it stopped responding to my commands. It drifted slowly in the breeze until it ran into a building and fell about 20 feet onto a skylight.

From there, I was able to get it to respond, and I guided it onto the ground. The claimed outside range of the Wi-Fi connection—200 feet—isn't as far as you might think.Parrot didn't seem very on the ball when it came to actually supporting its product after its launch, as a quick scan of the AR Drone forum will uncover. Not all the features promised in the 2.0 version have been released yet; updated firmware has actually caused drones to "drop altitude abruptly"; developers trying to use the AR Drone API complain of a lack of feedback from Parrot engineers. It didn't engender a lot of confidence in your $300 purchase. (Parrot seems to have improved in the last couple of weeks, having released new firmware.)There are some really interesting hacks—especially ones that turn the AR Drone into a hunter-seeker. Others can track objects, or even follow you like a pet. Why hasn't Parrot hasn't included those out of the box?If you really want to buy a drone to capture high-quality footage, you'd be better off buying a rig purpose-built for it.

Some $1,000+ models now have six-axis DSLR mounts as options (and the horsepower to haul them).The app can save video files to your phone (and even upload them to YouTube), but another option is saving directly to a USB stick that can be nestled inside the flight body. This saves at a higher bitrate, with no potential dropped frames due to Wi-Fi issues. One caveat: finding a USB stick that the AR Drone will recognize. It took me a few before I found one that would record—and I happened to have a hot crash right after plugging it in. Unfortunately, I don't have video of that crash. The hard shut-down disrupted the writing of the file. Sometimes having a record of your big failure can ease the embarrassment.The indoor hull's four Styrofoam hoops, meant protect the rotors, break with very little force. How about thin loops of wire? Flexible but sturdy plastic ribs?Should You Buy It?As far as drones go, you're not going to get much more accessible or inexpensive as the AR Drone. But it's still three bills—and Parrot's shortcomings on service aren't instilling consumer confidence.