Gesture and Stability Control of A Quadcopter Using 3-Axis Accelerometer

Abstract

Usually, the copter's position and stability are sensed using an "Indoor Global positioning System". In this method, reflectors are fixed on the quadcopter and they are continuously sensed by IR, motion sensors and cameras. But if an accelerometer is used in a quadcopter, the need for the cameras and motion sensors is removed. An accelerometer placed on the quadcopter can be used to maintain the copter?s stability. This accelerometer constantly monitors the position of the quadcopter in flight. The signals from the accelerometer are monitored by a microcontroller. If the controller senses any disturbance in the flight position of the quadcopter, it automatically generates necessary signals to bring back the quadcopter to stable state. The XBee module is used to receive data wirelessly from another module present in the user?s hand. The controller on board, reads the serial data from the XBee receiver and executes the respective commands from user gestures. Thus, the controller on board uses the data to control the quadcopter. This paper is presented to explain the control methodology and realization of stability of a quadcopter using accelerometers. The main aim of this paper is to reduce the cost of the control system by using onboard position sensors i.e. accelerometers and to control the quadcopter via hand gestures.