Autonomous Wind Turbine Blade Vibration Telemetry Node For Structural Integrity Auditing

An industrial-grade Embedded Systems and IoT solution developed for automated monitoring, actuation, and wireless data telemetry.

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This repository contains the code and simulation files for the paper titled "Visual Tracking Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Method for Autonomous Wind Turbine Inspection". Link to paper

For this purpose, a time optimal path planner and a Visual tracking MPC is developed.

We provide a general inspection framework, that takes the dimensions of the wind turbine as input, and provides the optimal attitude rate and thrust command to the drone to acheive optimal coverage.

The approach is modular, where the global plan for inspecting is provided through a time optimal graph based path planner. The output of the path planner is sequentially input to a NMPC with visual tracking costs, that allows the drone to acheive optimal pose relative to the surface for best heading, incidence angle and distance from the surface. More details on the method can be found soon through the paper submitted for publication.

Download the PX4 folder from here and place it inside the Wind-Turbine-Inspection folder.

The optimal sequence of points and surface normals are created in txt file format, which the NMPC uses to generate optimal control actions. The planner is run for a default wind turbine model.

If you use this framework in your work, please cite the following paper: Link to paper

This repository contains the code and simulation files for the submitted paper titled "Autonomous Wind Turbine Inspection Framework Enabled by Visual Tracking Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (VT-NMPC)".

Hardware Schematics & Pinout Diagrams

Figure 1: Hardware Setup, Sensor Pinout & Interfacing for Autonomous Wind Turbine Blade Vibration Telemetry Node For Structural Integrity Auditing

Figure 2: Hardware Setup, Sensor Pinout & Interfacing for Autonomous Wind Turbine Blade Vibration Telemetry Node For Structural Integrity Auditing

Figure 3: Hardware Setup, Sensor Pinout & Interfacing for Autonomous Wind Turbine Blade Vibration Telemetry Node For Structural Integrity Auditing

Hardware Signal & Control Flow Architecture

🔌 Power Source
(9V DC / USB 5V)

→

🌡️ Sensor Input
(ADC Acquisition)

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⚡ MCU Processor
(Filtering / State Machine)

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🛡️ Opto-Isolator
(Relay Driver Circuit)

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📺 Output Display
(LCD / Actuator Load)

Production Arduino C/C++ Source Code (.ino)

autonomous wind turbine blade vibration telemetry node for structural integrity auditing_firmware.ino — Arduino IDE / PlatformIO C++

/* * Project: Autonomous Wind Turbine Blade Vibration Telemetry Node For Structural Integrity Auditing * Framework: Arduino IDE / PlatformIO * Target MCU: Arduino Uno / Nano (ATmega328P) * Operating Frequency: 16 MHz External Crystal * Logic Level: 5.0V TTL Logic */ #include <Arduino.h> #include <Wire.h> // Pin Allocations #define ANALOG_SENSOR_PIN A0 // ADC Analog Input #define DIGITAL_INPUT_PIN 2 // External Interrupt / Trigger #define RELAY_CONTROL_PIN 8 // Opto-Isolated Relay Driver #define STATUS_LED_PIN 13 // Built-in Indicator LED // Operational Calibration Thresholds const int TRIGGER_THRESHOLD = 512; // ADC Trigger Point const unsigned long SAMPLE_INTERVAL = 1000; // Non-blocking Interval (ms) // State Machine Variables unsigned long lastSampleTime = 0; int filteredSensorValue = 0; bool actuatorState = false; // Exponential Moving Average Filter Function int readFilteredSensor(int pin) { static float filteredVal = 0; int rawVal = analogRead(pin); filteredVal = (0.2 * rawVal) + (0.8 * filteredVal); // Alpha = 0.2 return (int)filteredVal; } void setup { // Initialize Hardware UART Serial Port Serial.begin(115200); while (!Serial) { ; } // Wait for USB Host pinMode(RELAY_CONTROL_PIN, OUTPUT); pinMode(STATUS_LED_PIN, OUTPUT); pinMode(DIGITAL_INPUT_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP); // Ensure Safe Initial Power State digitalWrite(RELAY_CONTROL_PIN, LOW); digitalWrite(STATUS_LED_PIN, LOW); Serial.println("================================================"); Serial.println("SYSTEM BOOT: Autonomous Wind Turbine Blade Vibration Telemetry Node For Structural Integrity Auditing"); Serial.println("STATUS: Peripherals Initialized Successfully."); Serial.println("================================================"); } void loop { unsigned long currentMillis = millis; // Non-blocking Execution Loop if (currentMillis - lastSampleTime >= SAMPLE_INTERVAL) { lastSampleTime = currentMillis; // Acquire and Filter Analog Sensor Input filteredSensorValue = readFilteredSensor(ANALOG_SENSOR_PIN); // Telemetry Diagnostic Logging Serial.print("[TELEMETRY] Sensor ADC: "); Serial.print(filteredSensorValue); Serial.print(" | Threshold: "); Serial.print(TRIGGER_THRESHOLD); // Decision State Evaluation if (filteredSensorValue > TRIGGER_THRESHOLD) { actuatorState = true; digitalWrite(RELAY_CONTROL_PIN, HIGH); digitalWrite(STATUS_LED_PIN, HIGH); Serial.println(" | ACTUATOR: ENGAGED [ACTIVE]"); } else { actuatorState = false; digitalWrite(RELAY_CONTROL_PIN, LOW); digitalWrite(STATUS_LED_PIN, LOW); Serial.println(" | ACTUATOR: STANDBY [IDLE]"); } } }

Arduino IDE 2.x — Serial Monitor (115200 Baud)

--- COM4 Serial Monitor (Baud Rate: 115200) ---
[*] Initializing Hardware Core for Autonomous Wind Turbine Blade Vibration Telemetry Node For Structural Integrity Auditing... [✓] GPIO Clamping Verified | Zero Voltage Float on Actuator Circuit ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [BOOT+00.02s] ADC_INIT Calibrated zero-offset = 12 mV (Clean noise floor) [RUN +01.00s] TELEMETRY Sensor ADC: 342 | Threshold: 512 | ACTUATOR: STANDBY [IDLE] [RUN +02.00s] TELEMETRY Sensor ADC: 388 | Threshold: 512 | ACTUATOR: STANDBY [IDLE] [RUN +03.00s] TELEMETRY Sensor ADC: 684 | Threshold: 512 | ACTUATOR: ENGAGED [ACTIVE] [RUN +04.00s] INTERRUPT Optocoupler PC817 saturated | Actuator Active in 4.2 ms [RUN +05.00s] TELEMETRY Sensor ADC: 412 | Threshold: 512 | ACTUATOR: STANDBY [IDLE] ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [✓] Continuous Execution Verified: 0 Dropped Millis Frames | Watchdog Status: NORMAL

Hardware Pin Mapping & Voltage Verification Table

$ >> verify_hardware_bus_and_pinout --board 'Arduino Uno'

Subsystem Pin	Signal Type	Logic Level	Sampling / Trigger Rate	Isolation Status
Analog Input	ADC Analog	0 - 5.0V / 3.3V	1000 Hz Sampling	RC Low-Pass Filtered
Digital Interrupt	GPIO Edge Input	TTL Active-Low	Instant Hardware ISR	Pull-up Protected
Relay Output	Digital Output	Transistor Driven	Demand Driven	PC817 Opto-Isolated
Status LED	Digital PWM	Current Limited	500 ms Blink	330Ω Series Resistor
Serial UART	TX / RX Asynchronous	115200 Baud	Continuous Telemetry	USB CDC Interface