Flying Car and Autonomous Flight Engineer

Welcome!

In this lesson you'll meet your instructors and go over some of the logistical details of this Nanodegree program.

Autonomous Flight

In this lesson you'll get a high level overview of the concepts underlying autonomous flight and the physical components from which flying vehicles are made.

Backyard Flyer

In this lesson you'll write the "Hello, world!" of drone programming as you write event-driven code that causes a quadrotor to take off, fly in a square, and land.

Drone Integration

Walkthrough the steps you need to take to get your code running on an actual drone! We'll show you the steps for the "Intel Aero", but a lot of what you'll learn applies to other drones as well.

Getting Help

You are starting a challenging but rewarding journey! Take 5 minutes to read how to get help with projects and content.

Get Help with Your Account

What to do if you have questions about your account or general questions about the program.

Planning as Search

Solving the planning problem really comes down performing search through a state space to find a path from a start state to a goal state and here you'll get a chance to do just that!

Flying Car Representation

Your vehicle has a physical size and orientation in the world and here you'll learn how to think about position and orientation as part of your planning solution.

From Grids to Graphs

Graphs are really just a way of describing how your search space is connected. Here you'll learn about the tradeoffs between grids and graphs and each can be used in your planning representation.

Moving into 3D

Here you'll make the leap from two dimensions to three dimensions and discover how you can use different representations of your search space to optimize your planning solution.

Real World Planning

In this lesson, you'll dive deep into some advanced concepts that are crucial to motion planning in the real world, where a consideration for physics and preparedness for the unexpected are crucial.

Project: 3D Motion Planning

In this project, you'll get a chance to apply what you've learned about 3D motion planning from the last several lessons to plan and execute a mission in a complex urban environment!

Vehicle Dynamics

Learn how flying vehicles move in one and two dimensions by understanding how propellers create forces and moments which cause accelerations and rotations.

Introduction to Vehicle Control

Learn how to control a drone moving in one dimension using Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) Control.

Control Architecture

The controls problem becomes more difficult in two dimensions. Learn how to use a cascaded PID control architecture to control a flying vehicle that moves in two dimensions.

Full 3D Control

In this lesson you'll take everything you've learned so far about vehicle dynamics and control and put it together to control a quadrotor that moves in three dimensions.

Project: Building a Controller

In this project you'll implement a controller for a quadrotor in C++.

Drone Integration

Walkthrough the steps you need to take to get a version of your controls project on a crazyflie!

Introduction to Estimation

Review basic probability and learn three approaches to state estimation for a stationary vehicle.

Introduction to Sensors

In this lesson you'll learn about the sensors a drone uses to localize itself in the world. You'll implement sensor models, analyze sources of error, and perform calibration of various sensors.

Extended Kalman Filters

In this lesson you'll learn how to estimate the state of a drone that's actually moving! You'll implement a Kalman Filter for a 1D drone and an Extended Kalman Filter for a non-linear 2D drone.

The 3D EKF and UKF

Take what you learned in the previous lesson and generalize to three dimensions. After learning about the 3D EKF you'll also learn another estimation algorithm called the Unscented Kalman Filter.

Project: Estimation

In this project you'll implement an estimator to track the position and attitude of a quadrotor moving in three dimensions.

GPS Denied Navigation

How do you estimate vehicle state when you don't have GPS? In this lesson you'll learn about optical flow and particle filters as two approaches to solving this problem.

Congratulations!

Congratulations! You've completed all the requirements for this Nanodegree Program. Pat yourself on the back and share your accomplishment with the world!

Introduction to Fixed-Wing Flight

This lesson provides a brief introduction to Fixed Wing Vehicles, flying cars, and the components of typical fixed-wing aircraft.

Lift and Drag

Build mathematical models for lift and drag, the aerodynamic forces that make fixed wing flight possible (and difficult).

Longitudinal Model

Analyze both non-linear and linear models of a fixed-wing aircraft's motion in the x-z plane and use linear algebra to identify two oscillatory "modes" of motion.

Lateral-Directional Model

Understand the lateral-directional dynamics of fixed wing vehicles by looking at aircraft from above and behind.

Fixed-Wing Autopilot

Apply the concepts of PID control by implementing an autopilot for fixed wing flight.

Optional Project: Fixed-Wing Control

In this optional project you will control a simulated fixed-wing aircraft by implementing and tuning your own autopilot in Python.

Optimize Your GitHub Profile

Other professionals are collaborating on GitHub and growing their network. Submit your profile to ensure your profile is on par with leaders in your field.

Take 30 Min to Improve your LinkedIn

Find your next job or connect with industry peers on LinkedIn. Ensure your profile attracts relevant leads that will grow your professional network.

Autonomous Systems Interview Practice

Start off with some tips on interviewing for an autonomous systems role, then watch how candidates approach their interview questions. Finish off by practicing some questions of your own!