The objective of this project is to design, construct, and test an autonomous quadrotor vehicle capable of combined at-will aerial flight and underwater locomotion. The system consists of a quadrotor structure with a waterproof enclosure containing the necessary electronics and microcontrollers for autonomous flight. A ballast system is utilized for air to water transitions and was designed to ensure the craft will sink and rotate to the correct position for underwater propulsion when filled and back to an upright position when emptied to allow for takeoff. All of this is designed to be completed autonomously with the designed flight controller which utilizes a Teensy 4.0 microcontroller and Raspberry Pi within a complete sensor array. To demonstrate these capabilities, the designed quadrotor is to complete a mission within an indoor swimming pool area. The craft will start in a hover above the surface at one end of the pool, land on the surface and dive underwater to traverse the length of the pool, then resurface at the opposite side to take off and return to base. Within this paper, the design process and iterations are presented along with the corresponding research used to improve each iteration.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Patel, Toshak
• Brunelle, Ryan
• Devlin, Robert
• Carrignan, Calista
• Sarfo, Kofi

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• 94741
• E-project-032323-172212

Keyword

• UAV
• AUV
• Quadrotor
• Autonomous

Advisor

• Demetriou, Michael A.

Year

• 2023

Date created

• 2023-03-23

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Aerospace Engineering

Source

• E-project-032323-172212

Rights statement

• In Copyright

Last modified

• 2023-04-18