This project was the idea of Jyoti Rani and I could not have done it without her.

Features

  • Python server communicates with UWB chip to track drones
  • Tracking data used to maintain drones in swarm
  • Client-side graphing interface powered by GeoGebra

History

I don’t remember how exactly this one started, but it took quite a bit of fiddling with various drones before we found one with control software that interfaced with Python on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Also getting a drone that wasn’t already broken was a bit of a challenge on our budget, since we also had to purchase UWB chips.

3d printed parts was used to secure the UWB chips to the drones and to the posts representing the borders of the fly area. The controller was connected to a UWB development board via USB and used the board’s CLI to read data. Not the best solution, but we did not have time to write custom software.

The frontend was a little Javascript to connect to a websocket and use the data to update a GeoGebra graph with the paths of the individual drones when given a single path to follow.

In terms of work, Jyoti was mainly responsible for hardware while I was mainly responsible for software. We worked together to set up demonstrations and do the presentation.

The project was presented at the Synopsys 2020 Science Fair, where it won Best of Championship. Unfortunately, further events were cancelled due to the pandemic, so it is unclear how far this project would have gone.