UAV Antenna Automatic Tracking System Based on

Arduino
Yiqun Zhang Wei Lyu
Aviation Engineering Institute Aviation Engineering Institute
Civil Aviation Flight University of China Civil Aviation Flight University of China
Guanghan, Sichuan Province, China Guanghan, Sichuan Province, China
[email protected] [email protected]

Tonghui Sun Feilong Zhong

Aviation Engineering Institute Aviation Engineering Institute
Civil Aviation Flight University of China Civil Aviation Flight University of China
2021 IEEE 15th International Conference on Electronic Measurement & Instruments (ICEMI) | 978-1-6654-4491-0/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICEMI52946.2021.9679652

Guanghan, Sichuan Province, China Guanghan, Sichuan Province, China

[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—To address the problems of short data link signal antenna tracking position is at the rear of the aircraft, which
distance, poor pointing accuracy, and the real-time can considerably reduce the antenna gain. Spherical
performance of ordinary directional antennas during the flight scanning and tracking involve a circumferential drive signal
of small and medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), generated by a master controller, which drives the cradle to
an Arduino-based UAV antenna automatic tracking system is
proposed in this study. An ATMEG328P main controller is
scan the sphere and continuously track the target within the
used to control the overall system, GPS is employed to obtain sphere. However, the operating equipment is relatively
the real-time position of a UAV, a coordinate system with the complex, and its cost is relatively high.
center of the earth as the origin is established to calculate the Based on the above problems, this study proposes a
relative position of the aircraft and the ground, and virtual GPS Arduino-based UAV antenna automatic tracking
GPS frame data are generated via NMEAGNE for the tracking system. On the basis of airborne and ground GPS data, the
simulation. Moreover, a radio is utilized to collect and test the system main controller acquires the aircraft and ground end
POS data. The experimental results show that the data link is at the same time as the GPS location and parses the relative
stable, and the range-increasing effect is obvious when the azimuth angle and pitching angle information. The objective
system is tracking. The optimization program achieves high-
precision tracking for aerial targets within 0.5 m and keeps the
perspective and perspective of the current solution are
image signal clear up to 10 km through 100 MW data obtained via calculation to generate the target angle
transmission. Moreover, the data link signal can be maintained difference. The steering gear PWM drive value and PWM
above 90%. generation and transmission signals are calculated to drive
the servo rotation system. The experimental results show
Keywords—UAV, directional antenna, automatic tracking, that the ability of the directional antenna to receive dynamic
data link, GPS target information is improved, and the problem of the real-
time tracking of moving aerial targets by the ground end of
I. INTRODUCTION the UAV is solved.
In recent years, the development of unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) matured, which are widely used in law II. OVERALL DESIGN OF ANTENNA AUTOMATIC TRACKING
enforcement, security, surveying and mapping, agriculture, SYSTEM
digital cities, and other fields[1-2]. In addition, UAV radio The antenna automatic tracking system consists of a
frequency and control technologies indirectly reflect the main controller, GPS module, ground radio, directional
national development of UAV technology[3]. Reference [4] antenna, Bluetooth module, and servo system. The main
proposed an automatic antenna tracking system based on controller receives the station GPS and GPS information,
monopulse tracking, which can accurately track aerial using a I2C bus to collect the magnetic compass azimuth
dynamic targets, improve the signal quality of graph data information. Moreover, the main controller is responsible
transmission, and enhance the communication quality for the location information operation, utilizing the onboard
between an aircraft and the ground in low-altitude flight at GPS module to collect the location and magnetic compass
medium range. [4]Literature [5] integrated an inertial direction information. The location information includes
measurement unit and global positioning system and longitude, latitude, UTC time, height, and direction
proposed an automatic tracking system suitable for remote information to the magnetic North Pole as the zero reference
video and data transmission. [5]Reference [6] used GPS point. The ground station receives the UAV radio
position information to solve the relative position problem downstream data, and to deliver the data to the relevant
and coupled it with an inertial measurement unit to achieve equipment, the directional antenna converts the
high-precision pointing.[6] Presently, the main research electromagnetic field into electrical signals and sends them
methods of UAV directional antenna automatic tracking to a space station, and the ground-end tracking antenna uses
systems include stepper automatic tracking, ball scanning the Bluetooth module to receive the location data and send a
tracking, and GPS program tracking[7]. Stepper automatic debugging command to the tracking antenna. The servo
tracking uses a stepper motor to drive the antenna pitch and system receives the main controller PWM signal and drives
horizontal rotation and signal feedback search to the optimal the antenna on the UAV according to the corresponding
signal position and for continuous tracking. However, the rotary angle of the PWM signal. The overall structure of the

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 antenna automatic tracking system is shown in Fig. 1. 5 V to 3.3 V power supply is provided. To avoid the voltage
Directional stabilizing circuit fever caused by the large current, the two
antenna
steering gears require a high-power switching circuit. At the
same time, the power supply circuit should consider
Airplane
Server
system
overvoltage protection and have an anti-freeze design and so
Pitch Control
on.
angle signal
Antenna
Sensor
module
A TPS5450 linear voltage regulator chip is used in the
Ground control
terminal
Terrestrial
station
azimuth
GPS
design of the switching voltage regulator circuit. The
Main maximum driving current is 5 A, the voltage input range is
Position
Bluetooth
controller feedback Electronic 5.0 V–30 V, and the voltage input range is 7 V–33 V when
compass
module the 5 V output is used. The schematic diagram of the voltage
Fig. 1. Overall structure of antenna automatic tracking system regulator circuit (5 V) is presented in Fig. 3.
III. HARDWARE DESIGN OF ANTENNA AUTOMATIC TRACKING
SYSTEM

A. Overall circuit design

Owing to the complexity of the tracking process task,
an M8NGPS module with multiple interfaces is selected to
collect the airborne-end position coordinates and antenna
orientation, and a GPS module with a magnetic compass is
selected to collect the ground-end position coordinates and
antenna orientation. The tracking system hardware includes
seven components, that is, a main control circuit, power Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of stabilized power supply (5 V )
supply circuit, filter circuit, servo drive circuit,
communication module, sensor module, and antenna head. The 3.3 V power supply provides a small current to the
The hardware structure of the system is illustrated in Fig. 2. main controller, and an LM317 chip is used for the linear
voltage regulation to solve the problem of the main
Power
Power Supply
Supply Electronic
Electronic Bluetooth
Bluetooth Stabilization
Stabilization
controller requiring a high-power waveform. The schematic
GPS
ASM1117
ASM1117 GPS compass
compass HC-05
HC-05 TPS5430
TPS5430 diagram of the voltage regulator circuit (3.3 V) is depicted
Server in Fig. 4.
Clock
Clock system
circuit
circuit Pitch
Pitch Stabilization
Stabilization
ATMEG328P servo
servo TPS5450
TPS5450
Reset
Reset
circuit
circuit Horizontal
Horizontal
steering
steering gear
gear

Download
Download Radio
Radio
Buzzer
Buzzer
port
port station
station

Fig. 2. System hardware structure diagram

B. Main control selection

In the selection, the main control circuit should have an
analog signal input capability to read the coordinate Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of voltage regulator circuit (3.3 V)
information and analog signal output to output the PWM
control signal. Moreover, the main control circuit must solve The 6 V voltage regulator provides a large current to
the GPS data and magnetic compass direction information the steering gears and has a circuit similar to that of the 5 V
and other problems. Thus, the ATMEG328P chip is selected voltage regulator. However, the 6 V voltage regulator must
as the main controller[9]. The ATMEG328P is a widely simultaneously change the parameters of certain
used 8-bit AVR RISC chip with perfect internal and external components around it and add all the circuits to reverse the
interrupts, an SPI port, and rich 10-bit A/D conversion connection protection design to prevent the occurrence of a
capability. Moreover, it can execute instructions in each power input reverse connection caused by the circuit burn
clock cycle and includes a watchdog timer and various phenomenon. The schematic diagram of the voltage
power-saving modes. regulator circuit (6 V) is exhibited in Fig. 5.
C. Power supply circuit
In the automatic tracking system, the power supply
circuit must provide not only a 3.3 V power supply to the
main control chip and a 5 V power supply to the sensor but
also a 6 V power supply to the two steering gears. An
independent power module power supply that can meet the
7 V to 25 V wide input voltage and a DC–DC lithium
battery external power supply mode should be chosen for
two conditions, that is, to provide the main controller and
sensor with a 5 V DC̢DC power supply and regulate 3.3 V
from the voltage chip directly to the sensor power supply
after the 5 V output. The mount will become stable after the Fig. 5. Voltage regulator circuit (6 V) schematic diagram

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 D. Clock circuit design contrast, the analog steering gear must continuously receive
The internal clock of the ATMEG328P chip is only 8 signals to lock the current angle. A comparison of the
M, which cannot meet the design requirements of an steering gear control signals is presented in Table 2.
automatic tracking antenna. Therefore, an external 16 M
clock circuit is designed in this study to obtain stable 16 M TABLE II. COMPARISON OF STEERING GEAR CONTROL
clock signals. A 16 M crystal oscillator can provide stable SIGNALS
high-level 3.3 V with a duty cycle of 50% for the 16 M pulse width Angle
clock signal. The clock circuit diagram is shown in Fig. 6. 0.5 ms –90.
1.1 ms –45
1.5 ms 0
2.0 ms 45
2.5 ms 90

H. Horizontal structure design of head and head holder

The horizontal structure must rotate more than 360
Fig. 6. Clock circuit diagram Fig. 7. Reset circuit diagram degrees, but owing to the limitations of the antenna feeder,
the power supply line, and the maximum rotation angle of
E. Reset circuit design the steering gear, the maximum rotation angle of the head
The reset circuit is an important part of the digital holder is only 180 degrees in the horizontal direction.
circuit, whose main function is to prevent program Software optimization is conducted on the basis of the
confusion and enable the microcontroller to revert back to steering gear. Although the angle limitation problem may
the initial state. The reliability of the reset circuit determines occur in the hardware, the tracking method can be optimized
the stability of the system. The reset circuit diagram is from the program point of view to achieve the same effect.
presented in Fig. 7. If the steering gear is used to drive directly, then the
maximum horizontal rotation of the head is 180 degrees,
F. PTZ driver selection
which can be achieved by pitching the steering gear to the
The directional antenna platform is a two-degree-of- opposite direction. The magnetic north is assumed to be 0
freedom head holder, which realizes omnidirectional degrees, and the horizontal steering gear can rotate 180
rotation without a dead angle. In this study, a steering gear degrees clockwise. During the continuous scanning of the
is used to drive the head holder[10]. The steering gear is pitching gear within the range of 0 to 90 degrees, the
mainly composed of a DC motor, an encoder, and a control horizontal steering gear can scan from 0 to 180 degrees
board. The steering gear is a type of aircraft rudder surface simultaneously. Once the seamless scanning is completed,
actuating mechanism for controlling the aircraft rudder the complete one-quarter spherical space above the
surface. The steering gear control board can realize the horizontal plane within the range of 0 to 180 degrees can be
conversion of the PWM signal into the target angle and realized. When the horizontal steering gear turns to the 180-
correction of the angle error by comparing the current angle, degree point, the pitch steering gear starts to rotate from 90
and the steering gear does not need to drive directly. degrees to 180 degrees and scans within the range of 90
G. Steering gear selection degrees to 180 degrees. At the same time, the horizontal
steering gear seamlessly scans from 180 degrees to 0 to
The steering gear is the main driving component of the complete the scanning of the one-quarter spherical space
mechanical part, and its load performance and motion above the complete horizontal plane within the range of 180
accuracy determine the tracking accuracy of the system. In degrees to 0.
addition, the system requires a minimum of 180 degrees for
the horizontal steering gear and 90 degrees for the pitch IV. ANTENNA AUTOMATIC TRACKING SYSTEM PROGRAM
steering gear. Table 1 provides the performance list of the DESIGN
steering gear to be selected.
The main programs of the automatic tracking system
are a air-end main program, ground-end main program,
TABLE I. STEERING GEAR PERFORMANCE LIST
GPS_MODEL subroutine, virtual serial port subroutine,
Steering TinyGPS subroutine, ground-end data parsing subroutine,
gear LD-27MG TBD2701 X20-8.4-50 and steering gear driver subroutine.
model
torsion 20 KG*cm 17 KG*cm 42 KG*cm A. Air-end program design
0.16 SEC/60 0.16 SEC/60 0.17 SEC/60 The main function of the air terminal is to forward the
speed
degrees degrees degrees GPS position information received by the GPS module. The
voltage 7.4 V 7.4 V 7.4 V program is composed of the TX_Main, GPS_MODEL,
Brushless
motor type Hollow glass
motor
Hollow glass softmodem, and TinyGPS. TX_Main comprises the main
Work body of the air-end main program and system-running
PWM PWM PWM
signal program. Among them, the main program in the header file
Angle 180 degrees 270 degrees 90 degrees embedded in each program must provide the call subroutine.
The above comparison shows that LD-27MG meets the The system follows the order of the main program, running
design requirements. LD-27MG is a digital steering gear down step by step into the main loop to return the GPS
that can lock the steering gear angle unchanged by sending a information judgment if the GPS information is returned
signal. Moreover, it has the characteristics of high-control through the virtual serial port and sent to the digital
accuracy, satisfactory linearity, and fast response. By transmission or graph or if no GPS signal information is

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 sent to the virtual information search. GPS_MODEL uses V. ANTENNA AUTOMATIC TRACKING SYSTEM TESTING
TinyGPS to extract the GPS data key frames, which are To test the tracking system, the system’s ability to meet
processed and sent to the RF module through the soft serial the design requirements is verified. The testing includes a
port. Softmodem can use any digital port of the chip to static mechanical test, an analog signal test, and a machine
complete serial communication without the TX\RX serial test.
port reserved by the chip. Meanwhile, TinyGPS is an
Arduino package library module that can easily parse GPS A. Static mechanical test
data. This library can extract information such as position, The main purpose of the static mechanical test is to
date, time, altitude, speed, and heading from GPS devices. determine whether the mechanical part functions properly
The sky terminal main program defines each pin and can scan the hemisphere above the spatial level
function and the port baud rate, as follows: completely. First, the ground terminal is powered, and the
ExcSerial.begin(57600); // Set the baud rate of the AT+CS is sent to the ground terminal after the successful
serial port to 57600 Bluetooth connection with the mobile terminal. Second,
modem.begin(); after the command is received, the ground terminal will
PinMode (A0, INPUT); // Set a0-A3 to output mode conduct hemispheric scanning to determine whether the
PinMode (A1, INPUT); scanning is complete.
PinMode (A2, INPUT);
PinMode (A3, INPUT); B. Analog signal test
PinMode (13, the OUTPUT); A computer software is used to test the analog signal
Table 3 reports the function of each pin. and generate a series of continuous virtual GPS information
frame data. The air terminal can basically parse and send the
Table III. PIN FUNCTION GPS signal to the ground terminal. The ground terminal can
perform tracking based on the GPS data, observe and judge
pin FUNCTION whether the tracking is smooth and the tracking direction is
A0 INPUT correct, and compare the direction correctness with Google
Earth. The interface of the GPS information simulation
A1 INPUT
software is shown in Fig. 9.
A2 INPUT
A3 INPUT
13 OUTPUT

B. Ground-end program design

The task of the ground end is to analyze the received
GPS information and obtain the real-time position of the
aircraft. Compared with the initial home position, the
relative level and pitching angle of the aircraft and the
ground are determined, and the angle difference generates a
PWM signal to drive the steering gear for tracking. The
block diagram of the ground-end program flow is illustrated
in Fig. 8. Fig. 9. Interface of GPS simulation software

Start Port data

Servo keeps
current position The software can generate the required GPS data
Y
frames and slowly transition between the set positions to
Initialization pin
Information?
N
Play music Is the potentiometer angle N Steering gear
simulate the continuous position of the aircraft in flight. The
and baud rate equal to the target angle? rotation
observation shows that when moving between the positions
Y
generated by the software, the tracking antenna can track
N
The number of GPS stars
is greater than 6?
Receive
air data
Target angle
Current angle of
potentiometer
each position smoothly and accurately, and the tracking
Y
effect is satisfactory.
Get
information
Analyze GPS data
latitude, longitude and
altitude
Steering gear
control board
C. Computer test
from GPS

For the onboard aircraft, the SMD-V200 ground station

Use current
coordinates as
HOME
Analyze the position
information of the two
using the sphere model
Horizontal angle
difference and pitch
angle difference
Calculate PWM
based on angle
UAV carrying a Sony RX1 camera is selected to fly 5 km
and take forward photos. The SMD-V200 ground station
Fig. 8. Block diagram of ground-end program flow continuously records the POS point of the camera during
flight and the POS point of the aircraft synchronously. The
C. System debugging program design recording of the POS board can be realized without data
Mechanical errors will emerge during the installation transmission and forwarding, whereas the data recorded by
of the steering gears, and each steering gear contains the ground station will be affected by the data link signal.
different rotation angles. During normal operation, problems The performance of the POS point and ground station is
such as neutral point offset and stroke offset may occur; thus, compared to judge the quality of the data transmission
neutral point adjustment and stroke compensation should be signal during flight. The flight path planning diagram is
conducted. The corresponding command from the terminal shown in Fig. 10.
is inputted, the command value is assigned to Cmd, and the The antenna functioned accurately and smoothly
program judges the Cmd value and executes the throughout the flight, and the data link signal was
corresponding command. satisfactory. The ground comparison point of the POS and

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 forward image is complete, which basically realizes high- analyze the surveying and mapping data, and verify the
precision tracking at 10 km to 20 km and meets the comprehensive performance of the automatic tracking
application requirements of the aerial survey and security system. The experimental results show that the antenna
fields. The forward photographic image is presented in Fig. achieves satisfactory tracking, accurate pointing, and a small
11. error, thereby solving the problem of the real-time tracking
of aerial moving targets at the ground end of the UAV,
improving the antenna’s ability to receive dynamic target
information, and enhancing the data link stability when the
UAV flies long distances.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the theoretical
support of Aviation Engineering Institute of Civil Aviation
Flight University of China.
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