Development of autonomous quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle using APM 2.8 flight controller

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using the APM 2.8 flight controller as the core of its navigation and control system. The project aims to design, assemble, and evaluate a stable and cost-effective quadcopter platform suitable for basic autonomous flight tasks such as waypoint navigation and altitude hold. The system incorporates essential components, including brushless DC motors, ESCs, a GPS module, a telemetry radio, and a power distribution system, integrated with the APM 2.8 running on the ArduPilot firmware. Waypoints are planned via Mission Planner software, with a flight control system embedded in the firmware. Real-world flight tests were conducted to evaluate the UAV’s performance in executing autonomously predefined survey grid and zigzag waypoints trajectories over open terrain. The root mean square error (RMSE) was calculated to assess the performance of waypoint tracking accuracy. The results show that the quadcopter UAV achieved an RMSE of 1.78 meters during zigzag waypoint tracking and 1.56 meters during survey grid, demonstrating reliable flight control performance offered by the APM 2.8 for basic autonomous mission tasks. This work highlights the feasibility of using APM 2.8 for cost-effective UAV development in research, education, and prototyping purposes.