Pocket-Flight
Fly a drone by tilting your phone.
Overview
What if you could control a drone without a remote controller — just by moving your phone? Pocket-Flight transforms raw phone sensor data into intuitive flight commands. Tilt your phone forward, the drone flies forward.
The Problem
Traditional drone control requires specialized remote controllers with steep learning curves. Smartphones already have IMU sensors (accelerometer + gyroscope) — can we use them for intuitive, accessible drone control?
Approach
Phone IMU data is read at 100 Hz via WebSocket. A complementary filter (α=0.96) fuses accelerometer and gyroscope readings. Filtered orientation is converted to velocity vectors that control drone attitude. A PID controller maintains stable flight with safety features including arming sequence, kill switch, and geofencing. Tested in Webots and Gazebo simulation environments.
Challenges
Noisy sensor data made raw readings unusable — solved with complementary filtering. PID tuning for stable hovering required extensive iteration. Real-time communication between phone and ROS node needed low-latency WebSocket implementation.
Results
Simulation performance: 8% overshoot, 1.2s settling time. Max tilt achieved: 28° (commanded 30°). Preparing for IEEE journal submission.