Rogue Avionics VPS Post-Mortem - Simon Fraser Universitywhitmore/courses/ensc305/projects/2009/16post.pdf · is the post‐mortem report for Rogue Avionics’ ENSC 440 Capstone project

“Tomorrow’s Innovations Today” SchoolofEngineeringScience(SFU)Burnaby,[email protected],2009Dr.PatrickLeungSchoolofEngineeringScienceSimonFraserUniversityBurnaby,B.C.V5A1S6Re:ENSC440ProjectPostMortemforaVirtualPilotingSystemDearDr.LeungAttached is thepost‐mortemreport forRogueAvionics’ENSC440Capstoneproject.Ourprojectgoalconsistsofthedesignandimplementationofawirelessunmannedhelicoptercontrolsystem.Thissystemwillallowforapilottooperatetheaircraftfromthegroundasifhe/shewasphysicallyinsidethecockpit.This document iswritten to describe the current state of the device, aswell as, providedetails regarding project deviations and future plans. In addition, budget and timeconstraintdetailswillalsobegiven.Thefinalsectionswillincludepersonalreflectionsbyeach team member discussing the various technical and non‐technical hardships andsuccessesexperienceduringtheprojectdevelopmentphases.RogueAvionicsconsistsofateamoffourmembers:Jyh‐YuanYeh,IsaacChang,DavidGuo,andXiaofengJin.Ourcompanymaybeinitsinfantstagebuttheaspiration,innovation,andskillofitsmembersareundeniable.Ifyouhaveanyquestionsorconcernsaboutourport‐mortem,pleasefeelfreetocontacttheteamatRogue.Avionics@gmail.com.Sincerely,

JyhYuan Yeh Jyh‐YuanYehChiefExecutiveOfficerRogueAvionicsEnclosed:VirtualPilotingSystem:ThePostMortem

“Tomorrow’s Innovations Today” SchoolofEngineeringScience(SFU)Burnaby,[email protected]

RogueAvionics,Copyright©2009 1

THEPOSTMORTEMProjectTeam:Jyh‐YuanYeh DavidGuo IsaacChang XiaofengJinPreparedFor: PatrickLeung&SteveWhitmore SchoolofEngineeringScience SimonFraserUniversity IssuedDate: May4,2009

VIRTUALPILOTINGSYSTEM

R o g u e A v i o n i c s , C o p y r i g h t © 2 0 0 9



TableofContents

1Introduction ....................................................................................................3

2CurrentStateofDevice....................................................................................32.1RemoteFlightControl ...............................................................................32.2On‐BoardVideo.........................................................................................32.3VirtualCockpitPerception.........................................................................42.4Real‐TimeFlightInformation.....................................................................42.5WirelessCommunication...........................................................................4

3DeviceDeviations............................................................................................53.1FlightStability ...........................................................................................53.2SignalProcessing .......................................................................................53.3InformationDisplay...................................................................................7

4FuturePlans ....................................................................................................74.1FlightStability ...........................................................................................74.2SignalProcessing .......................................................................................74.3InformationDisplay...................................................................................8

5ProjectDetails .................................................................................................85.1Budget ......................................................................................................85.2Timeline ....................................................................................................8

6PersonalReflections ........................................................................................96.1Jyh‐YuanYeh.............................................................................................96.2XiaofengJin.............................................................................................106.3IsaacChang .............................................................................................116.4DavidGuo ...............................................................................................12

7Conclusion.....................................................................................................13

8Appendix.......................................................................................................148.1ProposedBudget.....................................................................................148.2ActualBudget..........................................................................................158.3ProposedTimeline ..................................................................................168.4ActualTimeline .......................................................................................17



1IntroductionDuringthepast15weeks,theRogueAvionicsteamhasseentheirproposedprojectofanunmannedhelicoptercontrolsystemcometolife.Thispost‐mortemismeanttosummarizethecurrentstateof theproject,whatdeviationswereundertaken,andwhere theprojectwillgointhefuture.Ofcourseonthispathtosuccess,eachteammemberhasexperiencedvarying degrees of difficulties whether it be team dynamic or technically related. Eachmember’sexperiencewillalsobediscussedatpartofaself‐reflectionoftheentireprojectdevelopmentprocess.

2CurrentStateofDeviceCurrently,RogueAvionics’VirtualPilotingSystem(VPS)boastsfivemainfeatures:RemoteFlightControl,On‐BoardVideo,VirtualCockpitPerception,Real‐TimeFlight Information,andWireless Communication. The current state of each featurewill be described in thefollowingsub‐sections.

2.1RemoteFlightControlOneofthemaingoalsfortheVPSistogivepilotsaircraftcontrolcapability.Inthiscontext,the current control system, althoughnot perfect, has fulfilled its objective.Using remotejoysticks,thepilotisabletousetheVPStocontrolthehelicopterinalldirections:forward,backward, left, and right. Directional control is accomplished with the use of twoservomotorswherebymotorturniscontrolledusingpulsewidthmodulated(PWM)squarewave signals. Throttling and rotational capability were accomplished by four brushlessmotors.ThesemotorsarecontrolusingsimilarPWMsignals.Variouscalibrationfeatureswere also added to the original control design for testing purposes. Overall, the generaldesign principles of the VPS control system did not deviate from the original proposeddesignandspecifications.

2.2On‐BoardVideoIn order for the pilot to fly the helicopter remotely, a video feed was needed from thehelicopter.TheVPSoffersthefeatureusingavideotransmitterandreceiverpairing.Anon‐boardCCDcamerarecordsflightvideothatistransmittedtothebasestationanddisplaytothepilot.Size,weight,andpowerconsiderationslimitedtheflexibilityoftheoverallvideosystem.Asmall, lightweight,andpowersaving transmitterwasneededon thehelicopteralongwitha similarly constrainedcamera.Carefully selectedvideohardwareanda1/3”cameraservedthispurpose.



2.3VirtualCockpitPerceptionWebelievetheVirtualCockpitPerceptioncapabilityofVPSisoneofthestandoutfeaturesof the system. As proposed, the VPS allows for pilots to enjoy amimicked cockpit viewusing Motion Sensing Goggles (MSG). In essence, the feature matches pilot headmovementswithcameramovementstocreate180‐degreeviewsintwo‐dimension.Adual‐axisgyroscopeisutilizedtogivethegogglesmotion‐sensingcapabilities.Weknewthat a gyroscope is able to output angular velocity information. Todeterminepilot headpositioning, angular position information is needed. Thus, integration of the gyroscopesignal isneeded.Using timer triggers, samplesare taken from thegyroscopeandsum togenerateanapproximateReimannsummedintegration.Thisresultisthenusedtotellthecamera servomotors to sway the camera accordingly. The integration process requiredquiteabitofprocessingpower.Theconsequencesofthisconstraintwillbediscussedinalatersection.

2.4Real‐TimeFlightInformationAswithanymoderncockpit, theVPSvirtualcockpitneededtorelayflight informationtothepilot.Thereweremanyflightdatathattheteamfoundimportantincludingbatterylife,air speed, distance from base, and altitude. After considering hardware and timeconstraints,however,theteamelectedtolimitourflightinformationtothrottlepowerandlateralorientationforourproof‐of‐conceptprototype.The generation of lateral orientation information required the use of a tri‐axisaccelerometer.Theaccelerometerallowedusetodeterminetheangleofverticaloffsetofthe helicopter during turning maneuvers. This offset was determined using simpletrigonometricpropertiesamongthetri‐axialinformationgivenbytheaccelerometer.The display of both the throttle and orientation data ismadepossible by overlaying theinformation using a serial overlay module. The ultimate challenge of the feature wasproviding this information in real‐time. After testing several possibilities using a sharedPIC, the final design required theuse of a dedicatedPIC. Thiswasdone so to give flightinformationhighpriorityandimmediateprocessingcapabilityinordertoachievereal‐timeupdating.

2.5WirelessCommunicationTo achieve unobstructed flight, the VPS required data transmission to be completedwirelesslybetweentheaircraftandbasestation.Thisprovedtobeagreatchallenge.Atotal



of3differentwirelesstransmissiondevicesweretestedbeforethefinalZigbeemodulewaschosen.Thepreviousdevicefailtomeetourrequirementsformanyreasonssuchasnoise,reliability,power,andeaseofuseconstraints.Once the right transmissionmodulewas chosen, an effective transmission protocolwasneeded.Ourmainconcernsweretheefficiencyandreliabilityof thetransferofdata.Anytransmissiondelay,misseddata,orimproperdatawouldultimatelyresultoneofourmanyfeaturesfailing.Inseverecases,abadcontroldatastreamwouldresultinthepilottolosecontroloftheaircraft.Ourfinaldatapacketdesignconsistedoftwoseparatepacketorders:one for brushlessmotor control data and one for all other peripheral data. Having twoseparate data configurations allowed for each type of data to be transmitted efficiently.Indicatorbyteswithineachcodestreamwerealsousedtoensurethetransmitteddataisaccuratelyandproperlyreceived.

3DeviceDeviations

3.1FlightStabilityComprisesmade insignalprocessingmeant thatwewerenotable toachieve ideal flightcontrolandstabilityresults.The lackofprocessingpower, limitedthenumberofcontrolsignals we were able to process from the ground station. This ultimately limited ourdirectional control resolution toapproximately6 steps.Thus,with the current setup,weareunabletocalibrateandfinelycontrolthedirectionofthehelicopter.Flightstabilityis,therefore,not toouroriginalexpectations. It is,however, important to indicatethatevenwiththefactorysystemthatcamewithourremotecontrolledhelicopter,stableflightwasalready hard to achieve. The complex flight dynamics of a helicopter makes it nearlyimpossible to for us to develop an equally complex system for stable flight in the shorttimeframe. Since, our first prototype is a proof‐of‐concept model, the current system,althoughadeviationindesign,isstillfunctionallysoundandservesourpurpose.

3.2SignalProcessingReducing the directional control resolution to 6 steps does affect overall flight control.However, tradingoff resolution for faster results onlyhinders thepilot’s ability tomakehighprecisionflightchanges.Themorecriticalissueishowtheseresultsareprocessedandtransferred between the ground station and aerial vehicle. It is counterproductive tosacrificecontrolresolutionforfasterresults,ifthesystemisunabletotransferandprocessthoseresultsinanefficientandreal‐timemanner.OuroriginalconceptualdesignonlyplacedonePICatthegroundstationandonboardthehelicopter.Thelackofprocessingpowerforcedourteamtotaketwodrasticmeasures.Thefirstmeasurewasthatouralgorithmhadtobepartitionedcarefully,andprogrammedinto



several separate PICs. Our final completed systemwas equippedwith at total of 5 PICs.Each PIC’s operating sub‐system is outlined below inTable 1. By splitting the algorithmcorrectly, itmeans thatmultiple calculations and processes can execute in parallel. Thiseffectively increases the overall processing power of the whole system. However, muchtimeandeffortwasdevotedtoconstructingthecommunicationlinksbetweeneachPICinordertoachievesuccessfulparallelprocessing. PIC SubSystem Communication

LinkClockSpeed

Helicopter 1 AccelerometerandDisplayProcessing

TX(XBee)

RX(XBee)20MHz

2 CameraandServoControl RX(XBee) 8MHz

3 MainBrushlessMotorControl RX(XBee) 20MHz

BaseStation 4 Dual‐JoystickandFlightProcessing

TX(XBee)

RX(PIC2PIC)20MHz

5 GyroscopeIntegralandVideoOutput

TX(PIC2PIC)

TX(VideoOverlay)

RX(XBee)

20MHz

Table1:DivisionofPICoperationswithintheVPSsystem.ThesecondmeasurewastoboostmostofthePICswithanexternalhigh‐speedoscillator.The complexity of thehelicopter’s onboard circuitry andpower systems requiredoneofthe PICs to run off its internal clock. The discrepancy of the clock signals introduced acoupleofnewissues.Twodifferentscalarcoefficientshadtobecalculatedforthehighandlowspeedclocksinordertoproduceserialbaudratesthataresynchronized.IfallthePICsranoff thesame8MHz internalclocksignal,wecouldsimplyprogrameachPICwithanyscalarcoefficient.Aslongasthecoefficientsarethesame,thebaudrateswillmatch.Both PIC2 and PIC3 had to generate PWM signals with extremely short periods. Tocompensate for the slower clock speed ofPIC2, we could not simply replicate the samePWMcodefromPIC3tobeusedforPIC2asoriginallyplanned.WehadtoutilizetwoextratimersforPIC2.Asmarteralgorithmwasimprovisedtohandletheextrainterruptswithoutnesting. The algorithm was also designed to periodically shut off its receiver to divertprocessingpowerforgeneratingsignalpulses.



3.3InformationDisplayWeoriginallyintendedourinformationdisplaytocontaininformationsuchasbatterylife,distancefrombase,attitude,flightspeed,andpositioning.Forone,someoftheseadditionaldatarequired theuseofextracomponentsuchasaGPSmodule.Beingoverbudgetas iswithourcurrentdesign,costconsiderationsforcedustodeviatefromouroriginalintent.In addition to budget issues, processing limitation, extending fromprevious discussions,also inhibited us to go forth with adding more information to our pilot display. Ourdeviated design included the displaying of throttle power and lateral orientation. Thesetwofeatureswerechosenaftercarefulconsiderationbecausetheywerefoundtobemostimportantduringourtestflights.

4FuturePlans

4.1FlightStabilityWith our current design, the ability for flight control is realized, however,we didmakesacrifices to the flexibility of the controls. From a previous section, one can see that thesimplest solution for this problem may be to use more powerful microcontrollers toprocess thePWMsignals.Thiscouldberealized in the futurewithagreaterbudget.Thecurrentprototypealso lacksa control feedback system that is typically found inmodernUAVs. A future model could include the use of an integrate set of sensors such asgyroscopes, accelerometers, andGPSmodules to createa system that can correct erraticflight motions in an effort to improve flight stability. More extensive development willdefinitely be needed for this system to be realized but making the system moreautonomous and easier to control would definitely be a top priority for futureimprovementtotheVPS.

4.2SignalProcessingAsmentioned,thecurrentVPSprototyperequirestheuseof5PICstocarryoutallsignalprocessingduties.Thissetupwasdoneoutofnecessity,however, itwouldbeimpracticaland uneconomical to assume a similar setup during production. Ideally, a 2‐PIC systemwould be suffice, one on‐board PIC and one ground PIC. Tomake this setup possible, abigger package andmore powerfulmicrocontrollerwould be needed. Themain concernwith our current externally oscillated PICs is its inability to generate our needed PWMsignalwithextremelyshortperiods.Afasterclockspeedwouldhelptoresolvethisissue.Modificationswouldalsoneedtodonetoourprocessingalgorithmstoallowforseamlessprocessingofmultiple functionsona singleunit.Prioritieswouldhave tobeestablishedamongfunctionstoensurethatmoreimportanttasks,suchasflightcontrol,wouldbedealtwithmoreimmediatelythatothers.



4.3InformationDisplayThe most obvious future development of our information display feature would be toincreasetheamountofdatagiventothepilot.Thus,includingouroriginalintentofhavingbatterylife,distancefrombase,attitude,flightspeed,andpositioninginformationwouldbeof priority. Realizing would require additional sensors: GPS for positioning moresophisticatedaccelerometerforattitudeandflightspeed,andavoltage/currentsensorforbattery life. For now, the VPS is setup in a way that would allow for this additionalinformationtobeaddedtotheoverlaydisplay.Amoresophisticateddisplaysystemwouldbeanotherendeavortheteamcouldtakeinthefuture.

5ProjectDetails

5.1BudgetTableA1andTableA2oftheAppendixsummarizesourproposedandactualcostsfortheVPSproject.Weoriginallyproposedabudgetof$1196.50USD.Ourfinalprojectcostendedupbeing$1685.73USDresultinginatotalovershootof$489.23.Variousreasonsaccountedforthisovershootinbudget.First,shippingandcustomcharges,forimportedcomponents,accountedforover$300ofthetotalbill.Thesechargeswerefaraboveourestimatedshippingcostof$80.Second,astheprojectdevelopmentvariousextracomponentswereneededsuchasextraPICs,PICprogrammers,wirelesstransceivers,andother hardware components. All these extra components were needed for projectcompletionbutwerenotfactoredintoourproposedbudget.Lastly,componentfailureanddamagealsoaccountedfora largeportionoftheovershoot. Inparticular,severalcrashesoccurredwhenduringtest flightsof thehelicopter.Eachcrashcausedvaryingdegreesofdamage to the bodywork and rotors of the helicopter. We estimate that each crashaveraged$15ofdamages.

5.2TimelineTableA2andTable3oftheAppendixillustratesourproposedandactualtimelinefortheVPSproject.Theteammadeaverykeenefforttostarttheprojectasearlyaspossible.PartsorderingstartedinDecemberandbythesecondweekofJanuarywehadmostcomponentsacquired. This relatively early start allowed the team to pace ourselves through thedevelopment process and gave us more flexibility and leeway later in the project forintegrationandtroubleshooting.



The team was able to complete the overall project within the allotted timeframe.Complicationfacedinvariouscomponentdesignsaswellasunforeseensetbacks,however,meantthatwehadtoputonholdsometaskswhilejumpingtoothertasks.Thissituationexplainswhyouractual timelinehasamorescatteredappearance.Thebroadnessof theproject,however,ensuredeachteammembersstayedbusyregardlessofthesetbackswefaced. The fact thatwe neverwaited around for component to arrive or problems to befixed, we believe, is themost important reasonwhywewere able finish the project onschedule.

6PersonalReflections

6.1Jyh‐YuanYehBefore enrolling in this engineering capstone project, I had high expectations for theproject andmyself. Iwasglad to findanequallydedicatedgroupof teammemberswhoshared thesameambitionof raising thebarandmakingourprojectone thatpeoplewillremember.After15weeksof tirelessresearchanddevelopment, Iamproudofwhatourteamhasaccomplished,andourteamisveryecstaticwiththefinalproductthatspawnedfromthiscourse.This capstone projectwas unlike any other typical courses I have taken throughoutmycurriculum.Thisprojectisacoursethatrequiresatremendousamountofplanning,workand self‐discipline, as most of the development goes unsupervised by the professors orTA’s. What I truly enjoyed about this course is the extra space and flexibility given toeveryone to work at their own pace and, quite simply, on their own. Rather than havesomeone tell you thematerial youmust learn, this courseencouragedus to setourowngoals, do our own research as a team, and to solve problems thatwe encountered. Thisallowedforthoughtstoflowfreely,andenabledustoconcoctsomeofthebrightestofideasthatyouwillnotfindwiththetraditionalcourse.Theincreasedfreedomwillcomeataterriblepricetoateamthatworkedundisciplined.Iundertook the role asChief ExecutiveOfficer for ourproject’s company,RogueAvionics.One of my responsibilities included setting the agenda for the work that needed to becompletedeachweek.Ihadnodoubtinmymindthatmyteammembersweretalentedandknowledgeableenoughtoshoulderwhateverworkwasrequiredtocompletethisproject.However,forthepurposeofthisproject,Iwasonewiththemostvisionandperspectiveonthe current state of the project, andwhat needed to be done. This allowedme to betterprioritizedtheteam’sagenda,andre‐directtheman‐hoursonsub‐systemsthatweremoreimportantatthetime.Thiswasabsolutelycriticalgivenaprojectofourmagnitude,whereintegrationofourmultiplesub‐systemswasacomplicatedtaskitself.



Apart fromhaving a general oversight on theproject,mymain technical responsibilitiesinvolvedthesetupoftheRFdatalinkbetweenthetwoZigbeemodules,anddevelopmentofthesecond‐generationcodeforPWMsignalgeneration.Iwillnotdiveintothetechnicaldetailshere forhow I completed these tasks,as theirdescriptionscangetvery involved.Likeothersub‐systemsoftheVPS,thesetwocomponentsrequiredamonumentalamountofwork,andwereunchartedterritoriesforeveryoneoneofustobeginwith.Ourteamhasbattlethroughmanyadversitiesoverthecourseofthepast15weeks.Thereweretimesthroughoutourdevelopmentwhereoursystemwouldnotworkasplannedintheory,andsomenightsourfrustrationwouldgetthebetterofus.However,weallknewwhatwasatstakeifwewereunsuccessfulinfinishingtheproject,andwewouldcomebackthenext day to startworkwith a fresh clear conscience. If I had a chance to startworkagain from the beginning, I would still choice to stick with the same group of teammembers,aswewereeachabletobringsomethingtothetable forthisproject.Theonlything I would like to do differently is to prepare my team more. I significantlyunderestimatedtheamountofworkrequiredfortheproposedprojectback inDecember2008whenwegainedapprovalforourproject.Projectbudgetovershootscouldhavealsomostlybeenavoidedwithmorecarefulplanning.Allinall,Iamgladourteamwasabletocrossthe finish lineat theend,andtheexperienceweallgained,asa teamis invaluable,anddefinitelybeneficialtousinthefuture.

6.2XiaofengJinIamverygladforbeingpartofmyprojectteamandIreallyappreciatemygroupmembersforgivingmesuchavaluableopportunitytoworkcloselyandcommunicateeffectivelyonsuch an exciting project. I not only gained many useful academic skills, which includetechnicalanddocumentationskills,butalso learnedmanybeneficial teamdynamicskills,whichIcanapplyelsewhereinmyfuturestudyandcareer.From a technical perspective, I am now more knowledgeable on wireless datatransmission, microcontroller configuration, and control signal generation. I have neverdoneanactualwirelessvideodatatransmissionsystembefore.Fromthisproject,Ilearnedhoweverydetailofdesignandsetupwillaffectthewholevideotransmissionsystem,andwhatsignalsandproblemstolookforduringtesting.Byburningouttwovideocameras,Iknowhowsensitivesuchanelectronicdevicecanbe.Ilearnedthatthedetailpropertiesoftheantennacoulddirectly influencetheperformanceofthewholetransmissionsystem.Ihavegainedmorepracticalexperiencesonnoisereducingcircuitaswell.Allmy previous projects are providedwith sufficient support documents and help frominstructorsandTAs.ThisisthefirstprojectthatIworkedwithamicrocontrollerwithnoexternal support. I think this is the most important technical skill I learned from myteammates from this project,whichwill definitely benefitme formy future engineeringprojects.



By taking the responsibility of simulating the motor control signals, I learned theimportanceof taking into account thevalidityof system integrationwhenproducing thecontrol signals. The generation part of the control signals is not difficult. To generate acontrolsignalthatwillworkaspartofwholesystem,however,isachallengingtask,sincetheloadmaychangethepropertiesandtheperformanceofthecontrolsignals,ormaybeeventheentiresystem.In addition to the technical skills I have learned from this project, the general learningprocessandteamworkdynamicsaremuchmorevaluabletomeformyfuturecareer.Fromeach member of my project group, I observed different learning, working and problemsolving skills. These observations pulled me out from my own little box to expand myprobleminterpretationandsolvingskillstoabiggerperspective,whichIcanrefineinthefuture. The experiences of keeping everyone in the loop,working on the same goal, andhelpingeachotherwithdifferenttasksaredefinitelybeneficialandmemorablefortherestofmylife.

6.3IsaacChangThe technical knowledge I acquired fromENSC 440 project is probably one of themostpracticalandusefulskillsIhavelearnedfrommyundergraduatestudies.Ihaveheardalotabouttheimportanceofmicroprocessorindesigningcomplexelectronicsystemsandhadwillingness to learn how it worked. As the design of the project required major signalprocessing and data manipulation, usage of microprocessor was compulsive. ThemicroprocessorweusedwasPIC16F88.Asthesemestergoes,Ilearnedindepthabouthowto program in C and how to use available features in the microprocessor. I believeknowledgefromPIC16F88willbebeneficialthroughoutmyfuturecareer.Other than microprocessor, two hardware I was responsible for were gyroscope andaccelerometer. The most challenging and demanding task was making an integrationfunctionusinggyroscopesignals.Itwasafunctionwhereifoneerrorisfixed,anotheronecomesupagainandthecyclerepeatsforseveraltimes.However,whenitwasworking,itgavememoreexcitement thananyother features that I implemented.Workingwith thesensorstoproduceinterestingeffectssuchasdrawinglineonthescreenaccordingtothetiltangleofhelicopterwasfascinatingexperience.Last valuable skill I learned was how to debug.When themicroprocessor behaves in aweirdway,therewasnowaytofigurewhattheproblemwasfromoutsideandevenwithoscilloscope.Usinglogicanalyzer,Icouldspeedupthedebuggingtimemuchfaster.Fromlogicanalyzer,Irealizedhavingmoreeffectivemethodtomonitorsimultaneoussignalswillmakesignificantdifferenceintermsoftimesaving.Therefore,theconclusionIcametoisthatthebettertoolonehas,thefasterthetimetorealizewhattheproblemis.



As far as team dynamics is concerned, I learned that communication between teammembersisutmostimportancetohavethemosteffectiveprogress.Oftentimes,thegroupneeded to talk to each other to decide upon issues with the individual member’sprogramming. Especially in timesof difficultywhere there is slowprogress on theworkbecauseofproblemsencountered, it iscrucial totalktothememberswhatIamdoinginordertoavoidconfusionandpossiblyfrustrationbetweeneachother.Fromworkingwithmygroup, Ialso learnedtomoveoneven ifsomething isnotperfectandbeautiful.BybeautifulImean,aslongasthecodeisworkingandproducespracticallyacceptableresult.Thinkingabouteverysingleflagandregisteroftheprocessormaymakethecodeperfect,but itmayconsumemoretimethanneededandmaynotbeefficient. Inthe time‐pressing project as this, I learned from the advice of other members that it isimportanttodistinguishbetweenperfectfunctionandworkingfunction.If I were to repeat the project, I would definitely apply the things I mentioned above.Communicatingwithothermembersmorecloselyandnotexceedinglythinkaboutaspectsand features to implement a particular solution. However, I believe I have learned a lotfrommygroupandfromvariousmanualsandinoverallpicture,everythingwaswellabovesatisfactoryandIamhappytobeinsuchacoordinatedgroup.

6.4DavidGuoIentered into theENSC440projectcoursewithamindset that thiscoursewouldbe themostchallengingendeavorsinmyacademiccareerthusfar.Thissentimentwasdefinitelytrue. Our team set off with a very ambitious project of developing an unmanned aerialvehicle in lessthan4months.ConsideringthatatypicalUAVsystemwouldtakeyearstocreate, Iwasquite impressedwithwhatour teamwasable toaccomplish in theallottedtimeframe.One of the smartest decisions the team made, in my opinion, was starting the partsorderingprocess inDecember.Thisdecisionultimatelyallowedus tobegindevelopmentright from the start of January.This ideal scenario gaveus extra flexibility and room forerrorintheentailing15weeks.AstheVicePresidentofOperationsforRogueAvionics,mymajor responsiblywasmaking sure theproject development process ran smoothly. Thisincludedkeepingtheteammotivatedduringalltimes.Oneofthetoughestexperiencesformyselfwastheburdenofcomingbacktothelabtoredoapartoftheprojectafteramajorfailure.To resolve this issue, I tried tokeepoptimisticasmuchaspossibleand feed thisoptimisticemotiontotherestofmyteammates.Apartfrommyexecutiveduties,mymajortechnicalresponsibilityintheprojectwasonthehelicopter control system. This included extensivemicrocontroller programming for thecontrol algorithm. Before this project, I had no previous experience working withmicrocontrollers or have done anymajor programming in C. Learning toworkwith the



microcontroller was therefore one of my biggest challenges. Based on our originalscheduling, I had merely 3 weeks to complete the general development of the systembecausetheensuringwirelessdatasystemandcontrolsignalgenerationalgorithmsweredependentonmycompletionofthecontrolsystem.Thepressuresofsuchashortdeadlineand the lack of a “warm‐up” phase into the project caused me much stress and agonyduringthefirstmonthoftheproject.AuniquetaskIhadontheprojectwasbeingthetestpilot.Ifoundquitepleasurefromtestflying our prototype and found the task to be a great stress reliever. Despite somedevastatingcrashes,theoverallexperiencewaspositive.Thetestflightsalsoprovedtobeagreat team dynamic builder because each flight required the collaboration of all teammembers.Initialtestsrequiredthreememberstoholdontohelicopterfromthreedifferentanglesandworkin‐syncwiththepilot.Theconstantshoutingofcommandsbackandforthreallyhelpedtoteambecomeveryfamiliarwitheachotherandbondinasense.Overall,therewasnoproblemwithteamdynamicsamongRogueAvionicsteammembers.The test flight, mentioned previously, and the fact that we knew each other before thisprojecttookawaymuchofthecommunicationbarriers.Variousteamorganizationaltoolssuch as our progress reports,meetingminutes, lab journals, and code history helped uskeepeveryoneonthesamepageandup‐to‐dateregardingthecurrentphaseofourproject.We also encouragedmembers to voice their concerns andmake sure that nomemberswere isolated fromdevelopmental decisions. I believe the effectiveness of our teamwasoneofthemostimportantfactorsthatenabledustoaccomplishourproject.Reflectingbackatthepast15weeks,theteamandmyselfexperiencedmanytechnicalandnon‐technical difficulties during the development process of our project. Although thesecomplications resulted in numerous setbacks for our project, eachwill be an invaluableexperiencethatwillenrichbothouracademicandprofessionalcareers.IamveryproudofRogue Avionics’ VPS realization and each teammember’s dedication and endeavors forCapstone2009.

7ConclusionRogue Avionicswould like to declare its Virtual Piloting System a successful. It took 15weeksand$1700toget tothispointbuttheteamissatisfiedwiththeresultingproduct.Thefirstprototypeisafittingproof‐of‐conceptmodelofRogueAvionicsvisiontocreateasimple, cost effective, and fully functional unmanned aerial vehicle.With added featuressuchasMotionSensingGogglesandMimickedFlightControls,webelievethattheVPSisapracticalapproach inrealizingvirtual flight.Thisprojectrequiredtheclosecollaborationbetween all team members with each member working tirelessly throughout projectdevelopment.Stellar teamdynamicsmade thisprojectpossibleandwill continue tobeakeyplayerinthefuturedevelopmentoftheRogueAvionics’VPS.



8Appendix

8.1ProposedBudget

TableA1:VPSProposedBudget



8.2ActualBudget

TableA2:ActualBudgetBreakdown



8.3ProposedTimeline

TableA4:ProposedTimeline



8.4ActualTimeline

TableA4:ActualTimeline

Documents

Rogue Avionics VPS Post-Mortem - Simon Fraser Universitywhitmore/courses/ensc305/projects/2009/16post.pdf · is the post‐mortem report for Rogue Avionics’ ENSC 440 Capstone project