AME 3623: Project 7: Proportional-Derivative Control and Tuning

For the last two projects, you have developed the proportional error and derivative error control pieces. In this project, we bring these two pieces together and tune the parameters so that the craft will orient to and stick at a goal orientation.

All components of the project are due by Friday, April 12th at 11:59 pm
Groups are the same as for project 1.
Discussion within groups is fine.
Discussion across groups may not be about the specifics of the solution (general programming/circuit issues are fine to discuss).

At the end of this project, you should be able to:

tune PD-control parameters so as to achieve near critically-damped behavior of the hovercraft.

Component 1: Hardware

Balance your craft so that when the chamber is pressurized, the craft lifts off the ground uniformly and does not drift laterally (much).

Component 2: Software

Implement the following functionality:

Continue to use the orientation LEDs to display the current heading error.
The LED bar should continue to reflect orientation rate.
In control_step(), sum together the proportional error (project 6) and derivative (project 5) terms in computing ddtheta.
In sensor_step(), receiving characters '+' or '-' should increment / decrement your heading goal in steps of 20 degrees. Remember that heading goal should always stay between +/- 180 degrees.
Continue to use your FSM from project 6.

Component 3: Tuning and Testing

At the end of the previous project, you should have a reasonable choice of Kp. This should cause your craft moving definitively toward the heading goal, though it will likely oscillate around the goal (perhaps damped, perhaps not).
Slowly increase Kd until most of the oscillation has been removed.
After tuning, the craft should be able to recover from disturbances from the heading goal. In addition, as the heading error approaches and then crosses 180 degree error, the thrust fans should flip polarity (e.g., shifting from hard right to hard left).
Your hovercraft should behave properly given a range of starting orientations.
Remember that printf() is an expensive operation in terms of time. Although useful for debugging, it can cause serious problems when used inside of a control loop.

Component 4: Looking Forward

For the next project, you will be using the slip information from your cameras. Take some time now to test that the cameras are functioning properly and that your distance estimates are still accurate.

What to Hand In

All components of the project are due by Friday, April 12th at 11:59 pm.

Demonstration/Code Review: All group members must be present. The demonstration must be completed by Tuesday, April 16th.
Check in the following to your project 7 area of your subversion tree:
- Documented code: See the project 1 specification for detailed documentation requirements.
Personal report: Catme surveys must be completed by Wednesday, April 17th.

Grading

Personal programming credit:

Each person must accumulate at least three personal programming credits over the course of the semester. This project offers one.
To receive credit, you must be the primary designer, implementer and debugger of the component. This does not mean that your other group members should not be looking over your shoulder. But: you must do the "driving."

Group grade distribution:

35%: Project implementation
30%: Demonstration of working project (to either of the TA or the instructor)
35%: Documentation

Group Grading Rubric

Grades for individuals will be based on the group grade, but weighted by the assessed contributions of the group members to the non-personal programming items.

andrewhfagg -- gmail.com

Last modified: Mon Apr 1 15:39:54 2019