Updates

After careful consideration, the team has landed on how the drone will be powered. 10 batteries, placed in pairs of two secured with a custom bracket each placed under its own arm to aid in balance. The last pair will be attached to the frame. The 48V batteries will be routed to a MAUCH Power Distribution Board, distributing 5V to the cube and telemetry radio​. The drone will also utilize a custom 37x41mm PCB.

Using Python to communicate with Ardupilot, the team had its first successful autonomous flight. This is a huge accomplishment!

The drone’s drop system is in the early stages of its design. Currently, we have a vertical caged structure with spools to hold some fishing line. The spool’s rod is controlled with the use of servos. Electromagnets were originally going to be used for their minimal power draw, but servos were chosen for their ease of installment and reliability.

Our new drone will be smaller than previous years’ designs, compacting its size and weighing less overall. The initial framing has already been designed, with slight alterations to come. The team has now begun looking into batteries and designing a harness to secure it.

The team has made the difficult decision to swap from PX4 firmware to Ardupilot. Our Flight Team has made great strides in mastering Dronekit to communicate with Ardupilot using Python code. The computer vision machine learning models are now fully set up, with the YOLOv9 module actively being trained to detect the wide range of objects that will be seen at SUAS. The mapping has been taken into a new direction, utilizing a coordinate-based algorithm to stitch images together compared to using recurring patterns and objects. Drone simulations are nearing completion for applying the drone’s code within the competition’s framework.