Toward indoor autonomous flight using a Multi-rotor vehicle

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to detail progress toward an indoor autonomous micro aerial vehicle (MAV) that uses a multi-layered hardware and software control architecture. We build a quadrotor MAV with design considerations for indoor use and document the design process. Our design uses a three-layered control system in both the hardware and software components. We focus on using a modular control architecture to allowfor individual development of layers. For initial progress toward autonomous flight, we create an automated altitude control program that enables theMAVto hover stably at a given height. Experiments include hovering and directed flight through hallways with obstacles. Initial results provide optimistic feedback for future experiments concerning traversing indoor environments using an autonomous MAV with a three-layered control architecture.