Flight Systems
Manual and automatic flight control will be implemented into the drone. A Pixhawk will handle both planning a path and auto-piloting, while a Taranis X9D+ will manually pilot the drone for precise landing.
On Board CPU
A Raspberry Pi 3B+ will be responsible for executing Python programs and routing data between the other on-board modules on the drone.
Mechanical Structure
The drone will be constructed using EPS foam in a "flying wing", tailless design. A single Cobra 3510 series brushless motor equipped with a 10" diameter propellor will provide thrust to allow the vehicle to glide through the air.
Object Detection
The Raspberry Pi and a Neural Compute Stick will train an AI, using deep learning, to effectively find missing targets. A 1080p webcam will capture footage that will be processed by the neural network.
Communications
Two RFM95W LoRa radio transceivers will send a 360p, 10 FPS image stream to the search and rescue team from a range of ~2km. GPS coordinates will be sent along with the images to allow the team to pinpoint where a target has been located.
Battery Life
The drone will have one 3S battery, along with a high efficiency power converter to power the on-board modules. The maximum flight time of the drone is expected to be close to a hour.
