UAV/UGV control&navigation with smartphone

This thesis project mainly concerns the use of a smartphone for controlling the flight of a drone. Modern smartphones are mobile devices that combines the typical cell phone operations with a mobile operating system. They are equipped with many hardware components and implement a lot of software, internet and multimedia functionalities. They also contain sensors and systems that can be used for estimating some states of the mobile device, such as its orientation. Considering that a smartphone is equipped with many sensors and components that are usually present on a drone, it would be possible to create a drone using a smartphone and a reduced number of additional items. The smartphone should measure its position and orientation and implement a software controller in order to stabilize the drone vehicle and move it to a specific position. Its internet connection capabilities could also be used for realizing a communication link with a control station. In order to send the proper signals to the circuits that actuate the motors and implement a reliable radio control link for sending commands to the drone, it is necessary to use an additional electronic component. In this case an Arduino board is used. This project is based on the previous thesis “Implementation of an autopilot for UAV/UGV system based on Android smartphone” realized by Eros Giorgi. The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze and extend the job made in the previous project in order to implement an autopilot software on an Android smartphone and achieve the flight stability of the drone. It is needed to discover how the smartphone samples data from its sensors and if it is suitable for performing a task that usually is accomplished with a different type of hardware and software. At the same time it is also important to improve the software running on the Arduino board, reducing as much as possible the delays in the overall system. In the end it is necessary to extend the funtionalities that work over the communication link between the drone and the ground control station and implement an altitude and a position control.