Project Plan Rev. 0.1 Page 2
Project Bluebird
University of Portland / School of Engineering Phone 503 943 73145000 N. Willamette Blvd. Fax 503 943 7316
Portland, OR 97203-5798
Theory of Operations
Project Chinook: Radio Control Helicopter Performance Monitor
Contributors:
Daniel Gebhardt
Christopher Glanville
Tri Nguyen
Rebecca Eckert
Approvals
Name / Date / Name / DateDr. Lu / Dr. Lillevik
Insert checkmark (√) next to name and add the date when approved.
University of Portland School of Engineering Contact: D. Gebhardt
Theory of Operations Rev. 1.0 Page 21
Project Chinook
Revision History
Rev. / Date / Author / Reason for Changes0.9 / 02/6/04 / Chinook / Initial draft
1.0 / 02/13/04 / Chinook / Version 1.0
University of Portland School of Engineering Contact: D. Gebhardt
Theory of Operations Rev. 1.0 Page 21
Project Chinook
Table of Contents
Summary 1
Introduction 2
Background 3
Technologies 4
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 4
Architecture 5
General Description 5
Embedded System Architecture 6
Microcontroller and Firmware 6
Supporting Circuitry 6
Software Application Architecture 6
Modules 6
Main Window 6
Data Transfer 6
Data Window 6
Graphical Window 7
Design Overview 8
System Block Diagram 8
Embedded System Design 8
Power Supply 8
Microcontroller 8
User Input Pushbutton 9
LED Status Indicator 9
RS-232 Driver 9
EEPROM 9
Engine RPM Sensor 10
Engine Temperature Sensor 10
Servo Current Sensor 11
Accelerometer 12
Servo Positional Signals 13
Receiver Battery Voltage 13
Firmware Design 14
Record Data Mode 14
Transmit Data Mode 15
Software Design Overview 16
MainWindow 17
dataHandler 19
dataWindow 19
graphWindow 19
Print 19
Transfer 20
Serial Library Integration 20
Data Transferring Path 20
Data Transferring Process 21
Help 24
Preferences 24
Conclusions 25
Appendices A 26
University of Portland School of Engineering Contact: D. Gebhardt
Theory of Operations Rev. 1.0 Page 21
Project Chinook
List of Figures
Figure 1: Architecture of Project Chinook. 5
Figure 2: Chinook Embedded System Block Diagram 8
Figure 3: RS-232 Interface Schematic 9
Figure 4: Engine RPM Sensor Schematic 10
Figure 5: Engine Temperature Sensor Schematic 11
Figure 6: Accelerometer Schematic 12
Figure 7: Receiver Battery Measurement Schematic 13
Figure 8: Chinook Software Block Diagram 15
Figure 9: Chinook UML diagram 16
Figure 10: Chinook Menu Layout 17
Figure 11: Data Transfer Block Diagram 20
Figure 12: Data Transfer Process 21
Figure 13: Data Transferring Progress Window 22
Figure 14: Data Transferring Completed Window 22
Figure 15: Connection Error Window 22
University of Portland School of Engineering Contact: D. Gebhardt
Theory of Operations Rev. 1.0 Page 21
Project Chinook
Chapter / Summary1
Chinook’s Theory of Operations document provides a detailed technical summary of the project, including all hardware, firmware, software, and the protocol that links them together.
Project Chinook will focus on recording important telemetry data on a radio controlled helicopter for analysis by the hobbyist. This data is useful because it allows conclusions to be drawn about the flight that can lead to an increase in performance and/or safety. Performance can be evaluated using previously unavailable quantitative values. Due to the recent advances in R/C helicopter technologies, legacy components may not be sufficient for the future. Evaluating these components may help increase safety by determining how close they are to failure, which may cause a crash and endangerment to spectators. Chinook will attempt to provide a research tool to discover possible bottlenecks of tomorrow.
The embedded system hardware will record various telemetry points during the flight of an R/C helicopter. These points are:
n Engine temperature.
n Engine RPM.
n Receiver battery voltage.
n Servo positional signals.
n Servo current draw.
n Acceleration (one or two axes).
After the flight, this data is downloaded through a serial RS-232 connection to a Microsoft Windows based PC running the Chinook software application.
Chinook’s on-board systems will be housed in a project box of a size yet to be determined. This housing should not exceed 2 pounds and 6” x 5” x 4” in dimensions. Within this box will be the circuit board, which includes the microcontroller, data EEPROM, voltage regulator, battery, and other miscellaneous components. The software used to view and interpret the recorded telemetry data will display it as a graph of ‘data value’ vs. ‘time’ or in a numerical format. The user can draw conclusions and spot correlations through this system. The environment in which Chinook will be operating is a range similar to what is expected of an R/C helicopter -- mild to hot temperatures (32 to 110 ºF), dry to moist conditions (0% to 90% humidity), and low to high habitable altitudes (0 to 9000 ft MSL). The device will also survive a minor crash.
University of Portland School of Engineering Contact: D. Gebhardt
Theory of Operations Rev. 1.0 Page 21
Project Chinook
Chapter / Introduction2
Chinook’s theory of operations is intended to provide a detailed technical description of Project Chinook as documentation of our current design and reference for any future use or modification thereof. Team Chinook is building a system performance monitor for remote control (RC) helicopters intended for RC helicopter enthusiasts who want to maximize their machine’s performance. It consists of an embedded system mounted upon the helicopter, which will record information about the helicopter during flight, and a windows-based GUI interface that will display the data in graphs and tables once it has been downloaded via a serial communications line.
The information contained herein is a technical description of our current product, limited to a description of how Chinook works with only a rough focus on a target market, so does not include marketing plans or projected modifications. It has been divided into four major sections as follows:
- The Background describes the uses and market for the finished product.
- The Architecture section describes both the embedded system and the software architecture with diagrams.
- The Design Overview gives detailed technical descriptions of the manner in which the architecture is implemented.
The Conclusions section gives a short recap of the entire project and references the other three sections in stating the conclusions drawn by Team Chinook.
University of Portland School of Engineering Contact: D. Gebhardt
Theory of Operations Rev. 1.0 Page 21
Project Chinook
Chapter / Background3
The hobby of radio controlled (R/C) model helicopters has been ever increasing in popularity, especially within the last 10 years. This has been due, in part, to the large advances in electronics, which eases the learning curve and offers performance capabilities unseen by any other type of aircraft.
Early R/C helicopters of the 1970’s and 1980’s were crude, very difficult to fly, expensive, and most did little other than hover or fly forwards. Then came the gyroscope and computer radio systems of the late 80’s. The gyroscope is a sensor and control modifier for the tail rotor, or “yaw” axis. It helps the pilot by dampening the effects of torque changes from the engine or wind gusts, automatically. Computer radio systems allow great flexibility in setup and ease of change. Skilled pilots could fly backwards and even inverted without special setups. Then in the 1990’s, computer radios dropped in price and the “heading hold” gyroscope (HH gyro), rotor speed governors, stronger servos, carbon-fiber rotor blades, and larger engines came on the market and became commonplace. This brought the extreme aerobatics flying style of “3D flight” into its own.
The evolution of the hobby in the above areas has also brought new questions to the table. Curious pilots have the desire to know important performance parameters to improve flying characteristics or safety. For example, while the servos have gotten more powerful and the electronics’ battery larger, the electrical connectors and wires used in the hobby have basically stayed the same. Can the old interconnects handle the recent increased current draw from the servos? Does the battery voltage drop enough that the receiver (receives signals from the transmitter controlled by the pilot) cannot operate safely? What is the G-force felt by the helicopter, and how might this affect the mechanical and electronics components? It is questions such as these that Project Chinook is seeking to answer.
Project Chinook will focus on recording important telemetry data on a radio controlled helicopter for analysis by the hobbyist. This data is useful because it allows conclusions to be drawn about RC helicopter flight that can lead to increases in performance and/or safety. Performance can be evaluated using previously unavailable quantitative values. Due to the recent advances in R/C helicopter technologies, legacy components may not be sufficient for the future. Evaluating these components may help increase safety by determining how close they are to failure, which may cause a crash and endanger spectators. Chinook will attempt to provide a research tool to discover possible bottlenecks of tomorrow.
The embedded system hardware will record various telemetry points during the flight of an R/C helicopter. These points are:
n Engine temperature.
n Engine RPM.
n Receiver battery voltage.
n Servo positional signals.
n Servo current draw.
n Acceleration (one axis).
After the flight, this data is downloaded through a serial RS-232 connection to a Microsoft Windows based PC running the Chinook software application.
Chinook’s on-board systems will be housed in a project box of a size to not exceed 2 pounds and 6” x 5” x 4” in dimensions. Within this box will be the circuit board, which includes the microcontroller, data EEPROM, voltage regulator, battery, and other miscellaneous components. The software used to view and interpret the recorded telemetry data will display it as a graph of ‘data value’ vs. ‘time’ or in a numerical format. The user can draw conclusions and spot correlations through this system. The environment in which Chinook will be operating is a range similar to what is expected of an R/C helicopter -- mild to hot temperatures (32 to 110 ºF), dry to moist conditions (0% to 90% humidity), and low to high habitable altitudes (0 to 9000 ft MSL). The device will also need to survive a minor crash.
Technologies
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
Microsoft's Visual Studio .NET 2003 is their newest line in development tools. It gives developers all of the tools they need to build many different kinds of Windows Applications and allows easy integration of third party libraries and tools. The IDE (Integrated Development Environment) provides a multi-pane view of the various parts of the project.
The Visual Studio libraries and IDE allow for quick GUI (Graphical User Interface) development and a unified development environment and debugging for multiple programming languages including C++, C# and Visual Basic. There is extensive support for application integration and interconnection via XML Web Services. Using this for development allows creation of the GUI design with simple dragging and dropping of elements and then allows easy code creation for listeners on these GUI objects.
University of Portland School of Engineering Contact: D. Gebhardt
Theory of Operations Rev. 1.0 Page 21
Project Chinook
Chapter / Architecture4
General Description
Figure 1 illustrates the general architecture of the project: the embedded system data recorder and the data viewer and analyzer software.
Figure 1: Architecture of Project Chinook.
The architecture of Project Chinook is divided into an embedded system and a PC software application. The embedded system consists of a microcontroller and its firmware, and the various supporting circuitry and IC’s.
The software application consists of a Visual C++ program designed to run on the .NET framework for Microsoft Windows. There are various modules that control different parts of the program operation. There are 4 fundamental modules. The first controls program flow and is the main Window where operations take place. The second controls the serial transfer of data from the Embedded System and then passes this data to the program for further allowing different methods of interpolating the data. The last two modules are Windows within the main Window and display the data in text or graphical format, respectively.
Embedded System Architecture
Microcontroller and Firmware
The microcontroller and its firmware will control all functionality of the embedded system (ES). There are two modes of operation:
- Transmit Data – the ES will transmit the recorded telemetry data to the PC. This is initiated by: turn ES on with the power switch, put the PC application in the “waiting to receive” state, and press and release the user-input button.
- Record Data – hold down the user-input button while turning the power on. Release the button. The LED will blink rapidly for two seconds, and the user-input button must be pressed and released again within that time. Else, the ES reverts to Transmit Data mode.
Supporting Circuitry
The supporting circuitry includes all the IC’s and electronics components required to get data into and out of the microcontroller. This includes reading the telemetry and communicating with the computer. Chapter 5 discusses this in detail.
Software Application Architecture
Modules
The software architecture consists of 4 fundamental modules. The first controls program flow and is the main Window where operations take place. The second controls the serial transfer of data from the Embedded System and then passes this data to the program for further operation. The last two modules are Windows within the main Window and display the data in text or graphical format, respectively.
Main Window
The main Window of the application contains menu objects that allow the user to interact with the system. From here further program execution will be controlled, including file operations and data transfer.
Data Transfer
The data transfer module is instantiated by the main Window module and controls the serial RS232 data transfer from the Embedded System. The module then returns the data received and the application can manipulate it.