AirServer: a Mind-Controlled Assistive Quadrotor Drone Aided by an Intelligent Fuzzy PD Controller

Paralysis is the result of a block in the information pathway between the brain and the limbs. Patients losing bodily control in this way are unable to move as they need to and are, therefore, unable to look after their own needs. The goal of this paper is to design a functioning quadrotor drone that will respond to a patient’s brain activity and accordingly enables them to have normal daily functions. We have designed an innovative brain computer interface (BCI) system to control the drone using only the power of thought. The drone has been designed and built using commercial components. An Emotiv EPOC headset was used to gather brain activity and communicate it to the computer which uses Emotiv software and a translation program to convert the signal pattern into a command that is able to be read by an OpenPicus FlyPort module installed on the quadrotor drone. Due to the non-linear nature of the quadrotor, an innovative control law was derived using the Fuzzy Proportional Derivative (FPD) technique. A complete simulation was used to tune the controllers in MATLAB Simulink. The controllers were designed and implemented using on-board microcontrollers and an inertial measurement system. The entire system was tested and verified in an actual flight test. The findings indicate the potential of BCI system for controlling quadrotor, and thus enabling paralyzed people to improve their life and maximize communication capabilities and independence. Keywords— Assistive technology, Brain computer interface, Electroencephalogram, Fuzzy logic controller, PD controller, Quadrotor drone, Unmanned aerial vehicle.