Aim of our project was the implementation of an automatically operating flying vehicle based on a platform called “Quadcopter” which is similar to a remote controlled helicopter.
Aided by GPS it was able to perform the following tasks

• Automatic flying according to waypoints
• Following planned routes
• Flying to certain points of an area (selected on the computer, e.g. by Google Earth)
• Tracking a moving transmitter (finding of “avalanche victims”)

In order to provide a high range of operation – including live pictures of an attached webcam – all control data was transferred via mobile phone network.
Some of our challenges were

• Weight problem (max. 300-400 g of cargo)
• Recognition and evasion of obstacles
• Recognition and interpretation of current position and flight attitude
• Independent reaction to unexpected incidents (to avoid crashes)
• Recognition of surroundings and pathfinding in unknown terrain

This project has been completed.