Accomplished Tasks
This week was a week of research and searching. I continued to research extensively for the proper drone, fully exploring all possible approaches to our project – in particular, all the methods with which to control our drone (which is my focus of the project). The paths that I laid out were:
- Drones with software API. Primary options include Parrot Drones (which are unfortunately discontinued, but purchasable off eBay), DJI Mavic Drones (which are incredibly expensive, and according to Prof. Tamal, are not purchasable by CMU), and CrazyFlies (CMU-owned drones that are free to fly, but incredibly small and carry no weight). There are also flight vehicles that contain ArduPilot, but these are extremely expensive as well.
- Drones without software API, but can be purchased separately. ArduPilot provides a series of “Open/Closed Hardware”, which drone users can purchase so that they can build their own drone. These components are not as expensive, but require the purchase of another compatible drone (or the entirety of the drone’s body). Self-construction of a drone is well outside our knowledge and/or may be excessively complicated for our project.
- Drones without a software API. This falls under our original plan, allowing us to widen our scope of purchasable drones. Controlling the drones in these aspects would involve either creating a controller for the drone controller (as previously planned) or hacking the controller communication with a Wifi signal. Both of these have been heavily discouraged by Prof. Kim and Tamal.
I also reached out to many people involving our drone project, notably Prof. Basti Scherer. Prof. Basti is apparently the drone professor of CMU, with all points of contact redirecting us to him. He has performed some drone research similar to our project scope as well. I visited his Squirrel Hill office, and despite waiting for over an hour, was unable to get an audience with him. Fortunately he replied to our email, and has offered to work with us – including lending and using his drones. This is a great point to work with, and I will be keeping in close contact to ensure success on the drone-obtaining front.
Progress
My progress is unfortunately a bit behind schedule, though given that the entirety of my section of the project is undergoing heavy reconsideration, under a potentially revised Gantt Chart, I may be on schedule. Once I am able to meet with Prof. Basti this coming week, I will be able to learn exactly what drones we will be handling and how to control them. In other words, in terms of my section of the project, should this work out, extensive progress will have been made this week.
Next Week’s Deliverables
Next week, I plan to have been able to meet with Prof. Basti, and clearly delineate what we can and cannot do and use from his research facility. I should be able to have a very good understanding of the drones he has, how he controls his drone, and potentially many useful points of information regarding our project (since he has done very similar research before). While this last week was a little bleak, the coming week is expected to be very fruitful.