RC Plane with Flight Controller
The Challenge
For my technical elective: ME5953 Embedded Flight Control Systems, we were tasked with designing and building a wing as part of a model plane assembly.
The tasks of the project were as follows:
- Using airfoil data, determine a suitable airfoil shape
- Determine wing shape (twist, sweep, dihedral/anhedral)
- Determine size of wing (span, chord) to achive necessary lift
- Calculate aerodynamic forces generated by wing and fuselage
- Calculate inpact of wingtips on drag and lift
- Design and build the wing, considering weight restrictions and durabilty
- Design a suitable cotrol algorithm for maintianing flight orientation autonomously
The Solution
The SG6040 airfloil profile was selected to form the wing design. Below, the skeleton of the wing is shown which consists of 3D printed ribs connected with carbon fiber rods. To save on weight, lightweight PLA was used as opposed to regular PLA which reduced the mass of the wing by 65 percent.
The flight controller utilizes the MPU-6050 IMU to measure the pitch, roll and yaw. A control algorithm was created using these values to maintain stability of the aircraft during flight without requiring user input.
Flowchart of control algorithm using PID control methods