Flight assistance and crash prevention system for integration on unmanned radio-

controlled fixed wing aircraft.

Introduction
With the increase in applications for unmanned vehicles in the past decade, there is an ever-
increasing number of them being used by not only industry, but also by members of the
general public. A few examples include but are not limited to:

● Use in photography
● Use in firefighting
● Use in weather prediction
● Use in surveillance
● Use in delivery services

This project will focus on a system to provide an introductory level of autonomy to radio-
controlled aircraft, aimed at people who are beginning to learn how to operate these devices.
As mentioned, there are more unmanned vehicles in the air today, than at any other point in
recent history which if operated manually require pilots who need training. The flight
assistance system can help to prevent expensive repairs or replacements on r/c aircraft by
preventing crashes caused by human error.

This project can also aid in getting more young people interested in UAV technology from a
younger age as the learning curve required for piloting fixed wing aircraft will not be as steep
when using the flight assistance developed in this project. Exposing younger people to this
and allowing them to experience operating the unmanned vehicles first hand also makes it
more likely that an interest in the stem subjects will be made. Therefore, it is important to
make these devices at the hobby level easier to operate with no prior flight experience,
which is what the outcome of the project will aim to do. Even pilots with flight experience still
have the ability to make a mistake, therefore the project will also help a wide range of people
at various skill levels.

In some cases, incidents from radio-controlled aircraft are not caused by human error, but
instead from outside factors. This for example could include outside forces acting on the
frame of the aircraft such as wind or turbulent air. The addition of a flight assist would allow
for corrections to be made by the control surfaces of the aircraft without the need for manual
input by the pilot. This In turn allows the aircraft to remain on a stable flight path, and
provides more confidence in the aircraft’s ability to remain airborne. To summarise, the
addition of a gyroscope for stability gives confidence in the aircrafts ability to fly stable in
conditions that would otherwise be deemed risky or unsafe. In applications in industry,
having confidence in the aircraft in more severe weather conditions could be important from
a business perspective, since it may make the business more competitive than rival
companies operating similar technology.

To conclude, the project is trying to achieve peace of mind in pilots operating radio-
controlled fixed wing aircraft through the use of flight assist and crash prevention systems.
Successful development of the system allows for a less steep learning curve for pilots, as
well as giving confidence to operate in more severe weather conditions.
Context and background information
On fixed wing aircraft, there are control surfaces which control each axis of the aircraft.
Control surfaces are aerodynamic surfaces usually on the trailing edge of an aerofoil that
rotate up and down to manipulate airflow and in turn rotate the aircraft around its centre of
gravity.

The roll axis is controlled by the ailerons on the tips of the main wing. If for example the
aircraft needed to roll to the left, the left aileron would deflect up and the right aileron would
deflect down. The airflow over the ailerons in this configuration would push the left wingtip
down and push the right wingtip up, in turn rolling the aircraft to the left.

The pitch axis is controlled by the elevator on the trailing edge of the horizontal stabiliser. If
for example the aircraft needed to pull up to increase altitude, the elevator would deflect up.
The airflow over the elevator in this configuration would push the rear of the aircraft down.
Since the aircraft will rotate around the centre of gravity, the front of the aircraft would move
up in turn pitch up the aircraft.

The yaw axis is controlled by the rudder on the trailing edge of the vertical stabiliser. If for
example the aircraft needed to yaw to the left, then the rudder would move in the direction to
push and rotate the back of the aircraft to the right. Since the aircraft will rotate around its
centre of gravity, pushing the rear to the right will cause the front and direction of the aircraft
to move to the left.

Gyroscope information
In terms of stabilising the aircraft, as mentioned previously this will be completed with an
electronic gyroscope, in particular one which measures 3 axes (X-roll, Y-yaw and Z-pitch).
The gyroscope being used will be a PID controller, which is fine tuned by the proportional,
derivative and integral variable in the controllers programming. The control system will be
fine-tuned for each axis, which means that the axis data will need to be captured. For a
lightweight solution, the use of an SD card as ‘blackbox data’ will be necessary in order to
observe the control system graph, and fine tune the control system response accordingly.
When it comes to optimising the control system for the level flight assists, it is important to
get the real response curve as close to the ideal as possible. A response curve which
oscillates around the setpoint is induced by over correction in the controller settings. In the
case of a fixed wing aircraft, this would cause overcorrection and oscillations in the flight
path and may be detrimental in terms of controllability.

Similarly, a control response which undershoots may be just as detrimental in terms of

controllability. This is because of the speed that the fixed wing aircraft will be going. A
sluggish or delayed response to outside forces will not induce correction quickly, and due to
the aircraft speed, it may have travelled far in the incorrect direction. Some outside forces
such as turbulence may only be brief, which means a sluggish response would have no
desired effect.

It should be noted that during the PID fine tuning process, the gyroscope should be enabled
and disabled through a switch and tested at high altitude in order to take back complete
manual control if deemed necessary to avoid a crash.
Strategy
In terms of the strategy for the project, there will be various aspects of the system that will
need to be researched before beginning developing the system as a whole. The first part of
the system that will need research into is the sensors. These are the most important
components to get right as providing the correct data quickly, accurately and reliably is
crucial for ensuring accurate corrections are being made to the flight path. Bad data in
means bad data out.

Sensors for consideration:

Speed measurement for measuring airspeed of the vehicle:

● Pitot tube
● Anemometer

Aircraft angle measurement for determining rotational position in each axis:

● Electronic gyroscope
● Accelerometer

Distance sensor for determining aircraft altitude (to be decided):

● Barometer (will not be accurate)
● ultrasonic sensor
● Radar
● Laser distance measurement

As part of the sensor selection process, tests will need to be completed in order to verify that
they are capable of producing accurate and reliable data in the appropriate conditions which
they will be exposed to when operating on the aircraft. The sensors attached to the aircraft
will undergo conditions that are different to normal operation on the ground. Conditions that
will have to be considered when testing sensors include:

● Very high frequency vibration through the aircraft fuselage caused by high rpm of the
brushless motors and propellers.
● Temperature from wind chill or low ambient outside temperature
● Moisture from the air or from light rain.
● Electromagnetic interference from lithium batteries producing high current bursts or
high continuous current flow.

For example, the altimeter which is selected will need

When it comes to strategy for completing the project deliverables, as mentioned there are 2
main objectives. First is for the gyroscope and second is for the anti-crash system.
Objectives and measurable stages

I want to work on a system to allow for flight assist on radio-controlled aircraft, primarily fixed
wing aircraft, which works to produce 2 separate objectives.

● An electronic gyroscope control system for maintaining and assisting with level flight.
Gyroscope should keep the aircraft tracking straight by correcting outside
disturbances such as wind or turbulence. Control system should be fine-tuned to
avoid sluggish response or overcorrection.
● An anti-crash system which overrides manual control inputs and prevents the fixed
wing aircraft from impacting the ground if predicted a crash will occur. Will use data
from electronic gyroscope, and altimeter. High rate of change in attitude towards the
ground below an altitude threshold should trigger an autonomous elevator input to
pitch up the aircraft away from the ground.

Once the trajectory has been corrected and a threshold altitude has been reached, the
system will give back manual control of the aircraft.

Additional notes:
● Project will be self-funded
● To be decided on distance sensor (potential use of radar for application)
Project timeline
28/09/22 - 12/10/22 Project selection:
Coming up with an idea and presenting it to the head of the module. All other present project
titles were chosen with only 2-person radar projects remaining. To align project titles more
towards hobbies and interests, the title in this objective form was chosen and the idea was
given go ahead.

12/10/22 - 16/11/22 Project planning:

Stating project objectives, planning out each section of the project on timeline and project
strategy.

Sensor and component research

Research into what types of sensors is best suited for this particular application. Sensors for
altitude, rotation position and airspeed to be researched for parameters required by
application.

Purchasing of components
Purchasing of researched components deemed to be suited for set parameters.

Sensor verification experiment

Verification that sensors are accurate and reliable under various conditions. Altimeter
distance sensors should be tested and verified on a variety of surfaces such as over asphalt,
short grass and long grass. Airspeed sensors should be tested and verified at different
humidity and temperature levels as these variables will alter throughout the year.

Individual component testing

Other components to be used in radio controlled fixed wing aircraft should be tested for
function and reliability. This includes running tests on control surface servos, electronic
speed controllers and on the chosen motor-propeller configuration.

Integration
Installation of all electronic components into the airframe, ensuring they are all secure. Use
of 3d printed hardware to help with this

Sensor calibration
Calibrating sensors after installation into the airframe to ensure accurate data is captured
when testing. Set level position for electronic gyroscope to give reference 0 degree of
rotation in each axis.

Software development for gyroscope

consists of flashing integrated circuits with PID controller software. Research into existing
PID controllers to help with this.

First test and data capture for gyroscope

First flight of fixed wing aircraft with gyroscope and SD card on board which can be toggled
on and off for testing. Data to be captured on Sd card when gyroscope in use.
PID controller tuning
tuning the proportional, integral and derivative variables in the gyroscope software based on
controller response.

Gyroscope testing
Additional flight for testing gyroscope response and capturing data. Should repeat previous 2
steps until ‘ideal’ response is achieved with no under or overcorrection in the control system.

Software development for anti-crash system (ACS)

Writing of software for ACS. Live data from sensors will give integrated circuits the
information needed to predict the projected path of an aircraft and in turn be able to predict
and prevent an impact with the ground by keeping it above a pre-set altitude.

First test of ACS

First test should be to see if the altimeter is working as intended. A high-powered LED for
visual indication of low altitude will be used to verify the aircraft can reliably measure altitude.
For example, Green LED lit when at safe altitude and Red LED lit when below 3m. Data will
need to be captured for optimisation

Optimisation of ACS software

Optimising ACS using the data captured to prevent flagging false crash warnings and
increase reliability of crash prediction detection.

ACS testing
Testing of ACS again. Should repeat the previous 2 steps until the system is well optimised.
Gantt Chart

Oral examination 03/02/22 - demonstration of concept

References
Cheever, E. (2019). Step Response. [online] Swarthmore.edu. Available at:
https://lpsa.swarthmore.edu/Transient/TransInputs/TransStep.html.

Robocraze - June 6, -, - R. and Robocraze is India's most trusted Robotics and DIY store. We
aim at fostering the growth of knowledge in Embedded Systems (2022) Best flight
controller for drone, Robocraze. Available at: https://robocraze.com/blogs/post/best-
flight-controller-for-drone

RC Wiki. (n.d.). Gyroscope. [online] Available at:

https://radiocontrol.fandom.com/wiki/Gyroscope#:~:text=In%20R%2FC%20modeling%2C%
20a

www.caa.co.uk. (n.d.). Model aircraft | Civil Aviation Authority. [online] Available at:
https://www.caa.co.uk/consumers/remotely-piloted-aircraft/model-aircraft/