Navigation and control of a quadcopter for real-time image processing applications

Abstract

In several quadcopter-related research work, the research mainly focuses on the image processing application and generally provides an inadequate description of the navigation and control of the quadcopter. While image processing is an important and complex component, it can prove to be unusable if the navigation and control of the quadcopter are of inferior quality. This article focuses on providing a primer to design the navigation and control for a quadcopter that can be used for real-time image processing applications. A variate of PID and PD controllers, along with Kalman filters, were used to develop the flight controller. Earplugs were installed to reduce the vibrations that were transmitted from the frame to the flight controller board, which was particularly helpful, as the accelerometer can be affected by vibrations. Furthermore, three-blade propellers were tested, and it was found that the three-blade propellers provided better overall stability; however, it experienced a slightly longer response time. It can be noted that the three-blade propellers perform better for image processing applications. A person tracking application was used to demonstrate the navigation and control of the quadcopter for real-time image processing applications. In conclusion the flight controller developed can be used for real-time image processing applications.