Abstract

Traditionally, quadcopters are controlled by 2.4GHz remote controller. However, in this project, it is controlled conveniently by a smartphone via WiFi signal. It can fly 40 feet high, 10 minutes long and record aerial video during the flight.

System Architecture

As the diagram on the left shows, the smartphone controlled quadcopter consists of a smartphone, a WiFi module — usually a hackable router –, camera and a traditional quadcopter.

We hacked a TP-LINK WR703N router and installed openWRT — a micro linux OS — to it. The router could served as a WiFi AP and forward TCP packages received from the smartphone to the serial port of Multiwii, the control board.

We also wrote an android APP with friendly UI that could send controlling data via WiFi to onboard router.

What’s more, the quadcopter also carries a camera disassembled from iMAC that could send real time aerial video to smartphone.

Features

Gesture Control

With the help of powerful sensors integrated in smartphone, this system could synchronize the attitude of smartphone and quadcopter. In other words, users can use the gesture of smartphone to control the quadcopter, which is amazing and brings a lot of fun!

Source

Demo

Document (Simplified Chinese)