Nowadays, drones have been widely used in meteorological monitoring, land and resources law enforcement, environmental protection, remote sensing aerial photography, earthquake relief, express and other fields. With the development of Internet of things, the application of uav in Internet of things technology is increasing. In order to better control the flight of uav, the application of various sensors plays a very important role.

Characteristics of uav

The drone's movements have to be very precise. In addition to being stable, it has to be able to fly to the desired altitude and communicate effectively. Therefore, the basic uav must have the following characteristics:

stable

The drone should remain stable and not suddenly shake, sway or tilt without warning, or it will lose its balance and crash.

accurate

Drones have to be very precise. As for action, it can refer to distance, speed, acceleration, direction and height.

Resistance to various environmental conditions

The drone should be able to withstand rain, dust, heat and other environmental conditions. This is not only the external material, but also the electronics used inside the drone.

Low power consumption

As drones become lighter, it is important to ensure ultra-low power consumption to minimize battery size. The rise of low-power technology has popularized drone technology.

Environmental protection consciousness

Environmental sensing technology is becoming one of the most critical areas of drone development. Today's drones have a variety of types of sensors to monitor the environment. The information collected can be used for a variety of applications, such as meteorological monitoring, agriculture, etc.

Connected to the Internet

The Internet has become an important factor in the rise and popularity of drones. Drones can be controlled remotely or directly from the cloud using a simple smartphone. Appropriate networking functional solutions should be provided for different usage situations. Some uavs employ a variety of networking functional solutions to meet the needs of multi-functional use cases.

Flight controller

The flight controller (FC) is the brain of a drone and the operating system of a computer or mobile phone. Flight controllers use a variety of sensors on the drone to capture data and then process the data to control the flight of the aircraft. In addition, the flight controller is responsible for transmitting information. The flight controller consists of two main components - the IMU (inertial detection unit) and the CPS module. It can be said that the flight performance of uav depends on the flight controller. The drone's smooth flight is essential to the flight controller's internal sensors (imus). The IMU is an inertial measurement unit (IMU) used primarily for devices that require motion control (such as cars and robots), but also for precise displacement calculations that require attitude. Typically, an IMU includes an acceleration sensor and a gyroscope.

Uav sensor

The IMU is the core of the drone, ensuring proper operation and navigation. These sensors include accelerometers, gyroscopes, electromagnetic compasses and pressure sensors.

The accelerometer

The accelerometer is used to provide the acceleration force of the uav in the XYZ triaxial direction. It can also determine the Angle at which the drone is tilted at rest. When the uav is horizontal and static, the output of X-axis and Y-axis is 0 grams, while the output of z-axis is 1 gram. All objects on earth have a gravity of 1 gram. To rotate the drone's X-axis 90 degrees, apply 0 grams of output on the X-axis and z axis, and 1 gram of output on the Y-axis. When tilted, the XYZ axis exerts an output between 0 and 1 gram. The correlation value can then be applied to the trigger formula to enable the drone to reach a specific tilt Angle.

Accelerometers are also used to provide both horizontal and vertical linear acceleration. The data can be used to calculate the rate of change in speed, direction and even the drone's altitude. The accelerometer can also be used to monitor the drone's vibration.

The accelerometer is an important sensor for any drone because it can provide critical inputs even when the drone is at rest