Custom flight control from the ground up.
The Flight Control System project is a student engineering initiative to design, build, and validate a custom quadcopter flight control stack. The Teensy 4.1 microcontroller serves as the primary flight controller, and the vehicle itself is a purpose-built test platform for real validation work.
The goal is bigger than a single hover. This platform is meant to teach embedded systems, control theory, state estimation, test discipline, and long-form technical handoff through a project that is ambitious enough to matter.
Flight Computer
Teensy 4.1
600 MHz Cortex-M7 controller with enough headroom for sensing, estimation, control, and logging.
Control Strategy
PID
Initial cascaded PID architecture with a path toward more advanced control methods later.
Primary Target
Stable hover
Hold position within +/-0.3 m for 30 seconds while tracking stable attitude.
Future Direction
LQR / MPC
Use the validated platform as a flexible research base for control methods beyond PID.
Vision
Develop a fully functional, custom-built flight control system from the ground up while building hands-on experience in embedded systems, control theory, sensor integration, and real prototype validation.
Primary objectives
- Design and fabricate a quadcopter airframe optimized as an FCS test platform
- Develop a real-time PID flight controller running on a Teensy 4.1
- Integrate IMU, barometer, and RC receiver for state estimation
- Achieve stable autonomous hover and basic manual flight
- Document hardware, software, and procedures for reproducibility
- Establish a foundation for future work in LQR, MPC, or adaptive control
Secondary objectives
- Build team expertise in controls, firmware, and mechanical design
- Create simulation models for pre-flight validation
- Develop systematic test and validation procedures
- Publish findings and code as open references for future teams
Success metrics
| Objective | Success criterion |
|---|---|
| Stable hover | Hold position within +/-0.3 m for 30 seconds |
| PID tuning | Settling time under 1 s and overshoot under 15 percent |
| Attitude control | Roll and pitch error under +/-2 deg during hover |
| Documentation | Core project pages populated and maintained |
| Safety | Zero uncontrolled crashes during indoor testing |
Section map
Technical Approach
System architecture, interfaces, control loops, and implementation assumptions.
Open pageTheory and Background
Dynamics, coordinate frames, complementary filtering, and PID context.
Open pageTimeline and Validation
Phases, functional requirements, and tracked validation status.
Open pageLogs and Results
Bench results, assembly history, and logging expectations.
Open pageCommittees
Committee responsibilities, scopes, and expected deliverables.
Open pageResources
Papers, repositories, and public technical writeups tied to the broader lab.
Open page