DRONE SWARM (Version 3)

The purpose of this project is to design and build micro drones that can be manufactured easily and cheaply to form a swarm similar to the one made by Intel. The basic functionality of each drone involves following a predetermined flight path, communicating with the other drones or being controlled remotely from a base station. Each drone also includes an expansion port where a number of accessories can be attached. This means it can serve as an open source platform for all kinds of swarm projects.

This is the third iteration of the design, and the first one to assembled into a complete drone, ready for programming. It fixes the issues with the previous version and includes some additional features, such as a larger ground plane under the GPS module for better accuracy and a place for an XBEE wireless radio for mesh networking.

Some applications I have come up with include:

• Light shows (like those done by Intel) - each drone has an LED

• Search and Rescue - each drone has a simple thermal camera

• An array of sensors spanning a large area in 3d space - each drone has a temperature / humidity / wind speed / etc. sensor

To the right is a log of the work I have done on this version.