RoboticsDrone controlStory 06
A tiny drone gains a thousand-hertz controller
What changedAccelMPC puts constrained model-predictive control on a custom six-gram FPGA board carried by a 35-gram Crazyflie. The authors report 1 kHz onboard control around moving obstacles and release the board design, firmware and solver. The result brings a planning method usually associated with heavier computers onto a vehicle where every gram and milliwatt matters.
The useful part
Why it matters
Fast constrained control on the aircraft itself can reduce dependence on an external computer and react within the dynamics of a tiny drone.
Worth doing
What to do next
Reproduce power, thermal and tracking measurements with the released hardware before adopting the design for safety-critical flight.
Keep in mind
Good to know
This standard-window selection relies on the authors’ platform and experiments; other airframes may change the timing and power tradeoffs.
Evidence