Enhancing Sensor-based Capabilities in Low-cost Drone for Surveying and Inspection Applications

Drones used in modern applications require sophisticated command, control, and communication. Depending on the application, the computing power and communication requirements vary from one application to another, in some applications it requires a processing power that surpasses the capabilities of the onboard systems. As a result, several technology businesses have been developing a variety of drone control systems and offering various functionalities for their drones with a high price tag, making them not feasible option for people with limited resources. The drone system described in this paper proposes an alternative way to control and integrate one of the applications that require high processing power like object detection using a purpose-built drone and a budget companion computer. The paper provides a comprehensive guide to the hardware and assembly of a drone system, the software needed for a basic drone setup, as well as additional software required for controlling the drone and applying significant processing power technology to validate our results. These components are implemented using an additional Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, flight controller, and Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera Module resulting in a cost-effective solution. This study also explores updates regarding the universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART) serial connections between the flight controller and the companion computer.