Daedalus: Low-Altitude and Low-cost Surveillance Aerial PlatformIoannis Mandourarakis, Marios Andreopoulos, Athanasios Paraschos, Antonios Igglezakis, Eftichios Koutroulis

School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Crete

Objectives

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Introduction

Bill of Materials

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Applications

Achievements

Thrust and Weight Results

Wind Time4 Beauforts 26 minutes

2.5 Beauforts 86 minutes1.5 Beauforts 218 minutes

Conclusion

Autonomy

Acknowledgements

Contact Information

• Web: http://www.daedalus.tuc.gr• Email: i.mandourarakis@gmail.com• Phone: +30 697 796 8895

Specifications were met; sizing optimization ofthe platform’s respective components wascompleted by coordinated management andbalance of multiple trade-offs. The implementedframe and thrusters are failproof, cheap,lightweight and at the same time easy toassemble, maintain and/or service.

The autopilot development takes longer than expected due to the unique design of the frame and thrusters which do not fall into any well known and thoroughly studied airship category.The system uses inertial sensors and naviga-tion readings (GPS) as feedback input for its control. In the future other kind of inputs may be used, such as optical flow.

The TUC Innovation & Entrepreneurship Unit

Daedalus operational time depends on the in-tensity of the wind. When trying to stay within a tight predifined area expected times are:

In an absolute calmness Daedalus seems to to able to glide at 5 km/h for 5.6 hours and travel a distance of 28 km.

However, these 28 km in calmness translate to less than 15 km in realistic conditions which is still an achievement that needs to be con-firmed.

Table 1: Operational Time while countering Wind Flow

Our research indicates that Daedalus may be useful in a variety of tasks such as surveil-lance, remote sensing, photogammetry, SLAM applications, crop monitoring and temporary communication systems.A study about the possibility of adaptation of gravimetric equipment to Daedalus, as well as the usefulness of full-tensor gravimetry method for oil and mining exploration, showed that with the current generation of low weight gravimetric sensors Daedalus could be a viable exploration platform which can provide higher quality data at low cost. The possibility of usage as an attraction or for providing a user oriented service has also been studied.

For the frame and thrusters we used:

aluminum and copper bars thin iron tubes aluminum, teflon-vinyl-PVC plates wood sticks, monokote, balsa wood polyester, plexiglass, foamboard ABS plastic (3D printed gears)

Parts we used ready-made:

hellium balloon 3m motors and propellers Tanaris X9D remote system Pixhawk PX4 autopilot lithium batteries

Daedalus can stay untethered in air for as long as 10 hours. Framework can be assembled in 18 minutes. Novel thruster design permits complex movements with 6 degrees of freedom.

The control of the rotation for all 4 thrusters can be set in pairs, standalone or any other combina-tional mode. Each motor can produce a thrust of up to 4 kgr which means that when appropriately turned, all thrusters together can move Daeda-lus back and forth with a force up to 16 kgr and up,down,left or right with a force up to 8 kgr.Daedalus weighs 6.7 kgr and may carry a pay-load of up to 3 kgr.

Figure 2: Weight DistributionFigure 1: Render of Daedalus

A multitude of applications can be developed or benefited if set to perform from a volant position. Our team took advantage of the progress in tech-nology and materials to develop a low-altitude robotic platform based on balloon, that can oper-ate for as long as 10 hours continuously.

We developed a novel airframe and thrusters in-house from low cost materials that can be easily replicated and assembled.We still work on the autopilot system that will pro-vide autonomy to the platform.A separate thesis explores the platform’s ability in mining exploration.

Figure 3: Thrusters Final Design

Develop an aerial multipurpose platform.Goals:

low cost easy to build and deploy carry more load than traditional UAVs operate continuously for an order of magnitude longer than conventional UAVs autonomous