DEPARTMENT OF

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION

MIT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

KOTHRUD, PUNE 411038

2016-2017

PROJECT ON

Android Controlled Hovercraft

BY

ABHISHEK TRIPATHI (B120383001)

ASHISH KUMAR PANDEY (B120383005)

NITISH KUMAR (B120383091)

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

PROF. (MRS) S.R DANVE

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Project titled Android Controlled Hovercraft is a bonafide work
carried out by them under my guidance in fulfillment of third year in Electronics and
Telecommunication Engineering of University of Pune.

Prof. (Mrs.) S R Danve Prof. (Mr.) R D Komati Prof. Dr. (Mr.) V V Shete

(Project Guide) Project Coordinator) (Head Dept E&TC)

(External Examiner)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We place on record and warmly acknowledge the continuous encouragement, invaluable

supervision, timely suggestions and inspired guidance offered by our guide Prof. (Mrs.) S
R Danve, Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, MIT College
Of Engineering, Pune , in bringing this report to a successful completion.

We are grateful to Prof. Dr. (Mr.) V V Shete, Head of the Department of Electronics and
Telecommunication Engineering, for permitting us to make use of the facilities available
in the department to carry out the project successfully.

We are also deeply indebted to all the teaching and non-teaching staff for the
facilities provided and moral support without which our project would not have turned
into reality.

Last but not the least we express our sincere thanks to all of our friends and family who
have patiently extended all sorts of help for accomplishing this undertaking.

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 LIST OF FIGURES

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 LIST OF TABLES

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 NOMENCLATURE

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 CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 History
1.2 Principle Of Working
1.3 Main Parts
Chapter 2: Literature Survey
2.1 Market/Literature Survey
2.2 Selection Of Bluetooth Module
2.3 Selection Of Microcontroller
Chapter 3: Construction
3.1 Block Diagram
3.2 Air Cushion
3.3 Hovercraft Skirt
3.4 Lightning Fan
3.5 Engine
3.6 Thrust Propeller
3.7 Rudder and Control Of Hovercraft
Chapter 4: References

Chapter 5: Appendices

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 Chapter 1: Introduction

A Hovercraft is a vehicle that flies like a plane but can float like a boat, can drive
like a car but will traverse ditches and gullies as it is a flat terrain. A Hovercraft also
sometimes called an air cushion vehicle because it can hover over or move across land or
water surfaces while being held off from the surfaces by a cushion of air. A Hovercraft
can travel over all types of surfaces including grass, mud, muskeg, sand, quicksand, water
and ice .Hovercraft prefer gentle terrain although they are capable of climbing slopes up
to 20%, depending upon surface characteristics. Modern Hovercrafts are used for many
applications where people and equipment need to travel at speed over water but be able
load and unload on land. For example they are used as passenger or freight carriers, as
recreational machines and even use as warships. Hovercrafts are very exciting to fly and
feeling of effortlessly traveling from land to water and back again is unique.

1.1 History

In the beginningHovercraft as we know them today started life as an

experimental design to reduce the drag that was placed on boats and ships as they
ploughed through water. The first recorded design for an air cushion vehicle was put
forwarded by Swedish designer and philosopher Emmanuel Swedenborg in 1716. The
craft resembled an upturned dinghy with a cockpit in the centre. Apertures on either side
of this allowed the operator to raise or lower a pair of oar-like air scoops, which on
downward strokes would force compressed air beneath the hull, thus raising it above the
surface. The project was short-lived because it was never built, for soon Swedenborg
soon realized that to operate such a machine required a source of energy far greater than
that could be supplied by single human equipment. Not until the early20th century was a
Hovercraft practically possible, because only the internal combustion engine had the very
high power to weight ratio suitable for Hover flight.

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 In the mid 1950s Christopher Cockrell, a brilliant British radio engineer and
French engineer John Bertin, worked along with similar line of research, although they
used different approaches to the problem of maintaining the air cushion. Cockrell while
running a small boatyard in Norfolk Boards in the early 1950s began by exploring the use
of air lubrication to reduce the hydrodynamic drag, first by employing a punt, then a 20
knot ex-naval launch as a test craft.

1.2 Principle Of Working

The principle of working of a Hovercraft is to lift the craft by a cushion of air to

propel it using propellers. The idea of supporting the vehicle on a cushion of air
developed from the idea to increase the speed of boat by feeding air beneath them.
The air beneath the hull would lubricate the surface and reduce the water drag on boat
and so increasing its speed through water. The air sucked in through a port by large
lifting fans which are fitted to the primary structure of the craft. They are powered by
gas turbine or diesel engine. The air is pushed to the under side of the craft. On the
way apportion of air from the lift fan is used to inflate the skirt and rest is ducted
down under the craft to fill area enclosed by the skirt.

At the point when the pressure equals the weight of the craft, the craft lifts up and
air is escaped around the edges of the skirt. So a constant feed of air is needed to lift the
craft and compensate for the losses. Thus craft is lifted up. After the propulsion is

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provided by the propellers mounted on the Hovercraft. The airs from the propellers are
passed over rudders, which are used to steer the craft similar to an aircraft. Hovercraft is
thus propelled and controlled and its powerful engine makes it to fly.

1.3 Main Parts

Lower hull- It is the basic structure on which the Hovercraft floats when the engine is
stopped while moving over water. It supports the whole weight of the craft.

Skirts- They are air bags inflated by air are fitted around the perimeter of the craft hold
air under the craft and thus upon a cushion of air. It enables to obtain greater Hover
height. The material used is rib stop nylon or Terylene.

Lift fan-It is fitted to the primary structure of the Hovercraft. The air is pumped under the
craft between the skirt space to produce a cushion of air.

Propeller-It is used to obtain the forward motion of the craft. It is fitted to the top of the
craft and is powered by a powerful gas turbine or diesel engine.

Rudders-They are similar to that used in an aircraft. Rudders are moved by hydraulic
systems. By moving the rudders we can change the direction of the craft.

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 MARKET SURVEY

2.1 Market/literature survey

We had a thought in mind, to implement an idea which will be helpful to the people. And
then we were inspired by the project Remote operated car and Android based
applications .

We made a fusion of both these ideas, to develop a tool which is controlled by the mobile
phones, and which will make a person to operate a hovercraft using an android device.

Another reference article Wireless robots was read.

Therefore, the main blocks of the project will be:

1. Bluetooth Module for receiving the type of operation

2. Microcontroller
3. Relay to control the Hovercraft

For implementing this, it was first necessary to know about the Bluetooth technology.

Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances
(using short-wavelength UHF radio waves in the ISM band from 2.4 to 2.485 GHz) from
fixed and mobile devices, and building personal area networks (PANs). Invented by
telecom vendor Ericsson in 1994, it was originally conceived as a wireless alternative to
RS-232 data cables. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of
synchronization.

Bluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which has more
than 25,000 member companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing,
networking, and consumer electronics. The IEEE standardized Bluetooth as IEEE
802.15.1, but no longer maintains the standard. The Bluetooth SIG oversees development
of the specification, manages the qualification program, and protects the trademarks. A
manufacturer must make a device meet Bluetooth SIG standards to market it as a

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Bluetooth device. A network of patents apply to the technology, which are licensed to
individual qualifying devices.

Bluetooth v1.0 and v1.0B

Versions 1.0 and 1.0B had many problems and manufacturers had difficulty making their
products interoperable. Versions 1.0 and 1.0B also included mandatory Bluetooth
hardware device address (BD_ADDR) transmission in the Connecting process (rendering
anonymity impossible at the protocol level), which was a major setback for certain
services planned for use in Bluetooth environments.

Bluetooth v1.1

Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.12002

Many errors found in the v1.0B specifications were fixed.

Added possibility of non-encrypted channels.

Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI).

Bluetooth v1.2
Major enhancements include the following:

Faster Connection and Discovery

Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH), which improves resistance

to radio frequency interference by avoiding the use of crowded frequencies in the
hopping sequence.

Higher transmission speeds in practice, up to 721 kbit/s, than in v1.1.

Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO), which improve voice quality of

audio links by allowing retransmissions of corrupted packets, and may optionally
increase audio latency to provide better concurrent data transfer.

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 Host Controller Interface (HCI) operation with three-wire UART.

Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.12005

Introduced Flow Control and Retransmission Modes for L2CAP.

Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR

This version of the Bluetooth Core Specification was released in 2004. The main
difference is the introduction of an Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) for faster data transfer.
The nominal rate of EDR is about 3 Mbit/s, although the practical data transfer rate is 2.1
Mbit/s. EDR uses a combination of GFSK and Phase Shift Keying modulation (PSK)
with two variants, /4-DQPSK and 8DPSK. EDR can provide a lower power
consumption through a reduced duty cycle.

The specification is published as Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR, which implies that EDR is an
optional feature. Aside from EDR, the v2.0 specification contains other minor
improvements, and products may claim compliance to "Bluetooth v2.0" without
supporting the higher data rate. At least one commercial device states "Bluetooth v2.0
without EDR" on its data sheet.

Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR

Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.1 + EDR was adopted by the Bluetooth SIG on
26 July 2007.

The headline feature of v2.1 is secure simple pairing (SSP): this improves the pairing
experience for Bluetooth devices, while increasing the use and strength of security. See
the section on Pairing below for more details.

Version 2.1 allows various other improvements, including "Extended inquiry response"
(EIR), which provides more information during the inquiry procedure to allow better
filtering of devices before connection; and sniff sub rating, which reduces the power
consumption in low-power mode.

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Bluetooth v3.0 + HS
Version 3.0 + HS of the Bluetooth Core Specification was adopted by the Bluetooth SIG
on 21 April 2009. Bluetooth v3.0 + HS provides theoretical data transfer speeds of up to
24 Mbit/s, though not over the Bluetooth link itself. Instead, the Bluetooth link is used for
negotiation and establishment, and the high data rate traffic is carried over a colocated
802.11 link.

The main new feature is AMP (Alternative MAC/PHY), the addition of 802.11 as a high
speed transport. The High-Speed part of the specification is not mandatory, and hence
only devices that display the "+HS" logo actually support Bluetooth over 802.11 high-
speed data transfer. A Bluetooth v3.0 device without the "+HS" suffix is only required to
support features introduced in Core Specification Version 3.0 or earlier Core
Specification Addendum 1.

2.2 Selection of the Bluetooth Module

HC-05 module is an easy to use Bluetooth SPP (Serial Port Protocol) module, designed
for transparent wireless serial connection setup.

Serial port Bluetooth module is fully qualified Bluetooth V2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data
Rate) 3Mbps Modulation with complete 2.4GHz radio transceiver and baseband. It uses
CSR Blue core 04-External single chip Bluetooth system with CMOS technology and
with AFH (Adaptive Frequency Hopping Feature). It has the footprint as small as
12.7mmx27mm. Hope it will simplify your overall design /development cycle.

2.3 Selection of the controller

Features of a controller that are required:

High Performance
Low power consumption
Minimum 32kB of flash memory
Minimum 8 bit ALU
Fast operation
All these needs are satisfied by the ATMEL 8 bit microcontroller- ATmega328

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 SYSTEM SCHEMATIC

3.1 Block Diagram

3.2 Hull

The lower hull of the craft includes the craft floor, side panels, forward and aft
panels till the top skirt attachment line. Most commercially build craft in polyester resin
will use this section to transfer to the top hull. The lower hull

Needs to have adequate size for the total weight of the craft and payload
Must be strong enough to support craft off cushion (on landing pads)
Have enough freeboard to support craft in displacement mode on water
Must be watertight and as smooth as possible.

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3.3 Hovercraft Skirts

Despite the momentum curtain being very effective the hover height was
still too low unless great, and uneconomical, power was used. Simple obstacles such as
small waves, or tide-formed ridges of shingle on a beach, could prove to be too much for
the hover height of the craft. These problems led to the development of the skirt

A skirt is a flexible shaped strip fitted below the bottom edges of the
plenum chamber slot. As the Hovercraft lifts, the skirt extends below it to retain much
deeper cushion of air. The development of skirts enables a Hovercraft to maintain its
normal operating speed through large waves and also allows it to pass over rocks, ridges
and gullies.

Skirt is one of the most design sensitive parts. The design must be just
right or an uncomfortable ride for passengers or damage to craft and skirts results. The
skirt material has to be light flexible and durable all at the same time. For skirt to meet
all of the requirements the design and use of new materials has slowly evolved.

There are three types of skirts

Bag skirt
Finger skirt
Bag and finger skirt

3.4 The Lightning Fan

In the enclosed space fan operates in a propeller would not be suitable. Firstly the
volume of air needed is very large and a propeller is designed to be most efficient in open
air like on an aircraft. Propellers again are not efficient in applications when an air
backpressure will be applied to the propeller blades as they rotate.

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 Because of this the lifting on most Hovercraft uses what is known as a centrifugal
fan. This is a fan in which two discs are fitted together and looks rather like a doughnut
with angled slat at their edges.

When the assembly is rotated at high speed air is sucked in to the center hole in
the fan and the slats force it out at the edges. The advantages of the fan are two fold. They
operate efficiently in an environment when back pressure is high and they will move
larger volumes of air for a given rotation speed than a propeller with the same speed and
power input

The lifting fan is coupled via a gearbox to the engine. The engine also drives the
propeller on the craft, which provides thrust for forward motion of the Hovercraft.

3.5 The Engine

The engines used in Hovercraft have evolved like the skirt design. The SRN 1 and other
early craft used piston type engines. As models like the SRN 4 and SRN 6 were brought
into service they tended to favor the use of gas turbines. This type of engine is smaller
and lighter for a given horsepower and has been used extensively in turbo prop aircraft.

The engine has a main shaft on which is mounted a compressor and turbine. A
starter motor is connected to one end and the other end is connected to the lift fan. Both
the compressor and turbine look like fans with large number of blades.

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 When the engine is started the compressor compresses air from the engine intakes
and pushes into the combustion chambers mounted around the engine. Fuel is squirted
into the combustion chamber and is ignited. The compressed air then rapidly expands as
it is heated and forces its way out through the turbine to the exhaust. As the gas pressure
raises the turbine speeds up, there by driving the compressor faster. The engine speed
increases until it reaches engines normal operating speed.

However the use of these engines results in very high level of engine noise
outside the craft. In the SRN6 this meant that it was possible to hear the craft traveling
across the Solent between the Portsmouth and the isle of Wight in the UK several miles
away. The current AP188 crafts that runs on the old SRN6 routes has now moved back
towards the piston engines and uses marine diesel engines that are much quieter and fuel
efficient.

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3.6 The Thrust Propeller

The propeller used to drive the Hovercraft along is usually an aircraft type with
variable pitch blades. Its speed of rotation must remain fixed to that the engine and the
lift fan. This is because the amount of lift air requires dictates the engine speed to drive
the lift fan. In turn the amount of propulsion which the propellers provide must be
obtained by varying the propeller pitch and not its rate of rotation. This system is termed
integrated lift. Hovercraft having more than one lift fan and propeller generally has a
separate engine for each fan and propeller unit.

The propellers used on hovercraft can vary from four bladed versions and about
nine feet in diameter on the smaller craft to the four propellers on the SRN4 cross-
channel Hovercraft. These are four bladed and nineteen feet in diameter.

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3.7 Rudder And Control Of Hovercraft

Control of a Hovercraft is accomplished by primarily though the use of rudders

like the type used on aircraft. The main difference would be, however, that Hovercraft
generally utilizes many rudders rather than just one.

On the SRN4 the pylons on which they are mounted can be rotated to change the
direction of thrust. Another method of control is through puff ports or dual thrust fans
where you would slow one down and speed up the other to turn in the direction desired.

The hovercrafts are designed to float like a boat with the engine turned off. To
stop the Hovercraft-Reducing engine RPM will reduce the air cushion height and
increased drag between the skirt and the surface will slow and stop the Hovercraft.
Alternatively, the Hovercraft can be turned 180 degrees and the engine accelerated till
the craft stops. In an emergency situation on most surfaces turning the engine off will
stop the Hovercraft immediately

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 REFERENCES

IEEE Paper

Soe Myat Hein,Design and Development of a compact hovercraft vehicle Advanced

intelligent mechatronic (AIM),2013 IEEE/ASME International conference ,22 August
2013.

Changzhong Pan,A bioinspired filtered back stepping based approach to tracking control
of under actuated hovercraft control conference, 29 August 2016.

Websites

www.hovercraft.com
www.howhovercraftwork.com
www.hover.globelinternet.co.uk
www.rescuehovercraft.com
www.hovercrafttechnics.com

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 APPENDICES

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