Electronic Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics

Boston, Massachusetts, March 21-24, 2013

Paper S145

This is an electronic reprint, reproduced by permission of Pearson Education Inc. Originally appeared in the Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, ISBN-10: 0133866726, Copyright (C) 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc.


Using Undergraduate Mathematics and Consumer Level Cameras to Track the Flight of a 'Toy' Helicopter in 3 Dimensions

John Bacon


United States Military Academy

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Johann Thiel


United States Military Academy

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Victor Trujillo, II


United States Military Academy

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Frank Wattenberg


United States Military Academy

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ABSTRACT

We use the sturdy and inexpensive camera-equipped Parrot quadricopter drone to engage students at many levels by using mathematics to control the drone, execute missions, and study the drone's performance. This talk will discuss how we (and our students) use undergraduate mathematics and consumer level cameras to record three-dimensional tracks of the drone on our 'test course'.

Keyword(s): geometry, applications