  This paper explains the integration process of an autonomous quadcopter
platform and the design of Arduino based novel software architecture that
enables the execution of advanced control laws on low-cost off-the-shelf
products based frameworks. Here, quadcopter dynamics are explored through the
classical nonlinear equations of motion. Next, quadcopter is designed, built
and assembled using off-the-shelf, low-cost products to carry a camera payload
which is mainly utilized for any type of surveillance missions. System
identification of the quadcopter dynamics is accomplished through the use of
sweep data and $CIFER^{\circledR}$ to obtain the dynamic model. The unstable,
non-linear quadcopter dynamics are stabilized using a generic control algorithm
through the novel Arduino based software architecture. Experimental results
demonstrate the validation of the integration and the novel software package
running on an Arduino board to control autonomous quadcopter flights.

Optimization and Control;Robotics