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The History of Drones

Introduction

UAV (UAV/UAV) – unmanned aerial vehicle, drone. Until the beginning of the 21st century, it was used exclusively for military purposes. Recently, drones have been widely used both in everyday life and in business. In this review, we have collected historical facts about how the unmanned industry was born.

How it was…

balloons

1849 Revolt in Venice. On the wave of bourgeois revolutions in the Austrian Empire, the Venetians declared independence. The city was taken under siege. The work of artillery was not effective due to the peculiarities of the relief and good fortifications on the outskirts of Venice.

Franz von Juchatik, lieutenant of the Austrian artillery, put forward the idea of bombarding the city from balloons. On July 12, 1849, the first two balloons with bombs were launched on the besieged city. There were shrapnel bombs on board, as well as mechanisms that dropped them at the right time. The bombing did not bring significant results, but sowed panic among the Venetians.

This case is considered the first ever documented evidence of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Wartime is the time of active use of new technologies and innovative developments in various branches of science and technology.

bomb with wings

1910 Inspired by the success of the Wright brothers, an American military engineer from Ohio, Charles Kettering, proposes the idea of an unmanned aerial vehicle – in fact, a bomb with wings. Thus, laying the foundation for the development of unmanned strike aircraft.

As conceived by the creator, the aircraft filled with explosives was able to fly in a straight line, without a pilot, for some time. Then the drone dropped its wings and fell on enemy positions. It is known that in 1914, Kettering received an order from the US Army for the manufacture of such unmanned aircraft. A total of 45 units were made. Later they were put into service, but they were never tested in battle.

The First World War gave impetus to the development of many of the fundamental technologies of our time, including radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles. Experiments with drones began almost immediately after the start of the mass introduction of radio transmitting devices. At the same time, experiments began on the alteration of conventional aircraft for remote control.

One such developing project during World War I was the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane. Its creators, Elmer Sperry and Peter Hewitt, served together in the US Navy. Sperry was engaged in the creation of gyroscopes for the use of the latter on destroyers. They were both passionate about aviation and saw potential in drones.

Once they still managed to interest the command and they began to develop their unmanned torpedo. In fact, it was a radio-controlled winged bomb. The first successful test flight took place in September 1917.

First unmanned aircraft

Radio-controlled ships received a new breath after the introduction of autopilots in the early 30s.

1935 British engineers create a reusable unmanned aerial vehicle. He got the name

“

queen bee

»

. The Fairy Queen biplane model was taken as a basis. After reconstruction and refinement, the drone could be controlled remotely from a sea vessel at a distance of up to 5 km. The maximum speed of horizontal flight reached 170 km / h. Having received the code name – DH82B, the model was used by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force of Great Britain as a target for training firing until 1947.

By the beginning of the Second World War, radio-controlled unmanned objects were already mass-produced. Especially the Target type. One of these UAVs was the well-known radio plane QQ-2. The first working model of which appeared in 1939. The QQ-2 radioplane was the most produced drone. In total, 14,000 copies were issued.

In conclusion, we note that even in those days, there were people who believed in the benefits of technology and predicted the massive use of drones for peaceful purposes. However, at that time such reflections were in the category of science fiction. Until the beginning of the 21st century…

What Is a Electric Speed Controller (Electronic Speed Controller) or Abbreviated – ESC for Drone?

Definition

Speed controllers – in the English-speaking community are called – Electric Speed Controller (electronic speed controller) or abbreviated – ESC. The main task of the ESC is to transfer energy from the battery to the brushless motor. The need for their use arose due to some features of the BC – motor. In short, the battery supplies direct current, while the brushless motor receives three-phase alternating current.

Principle of operation

Communication with other components of the multicopter.

The ESC input receives voltage from the battery and signals from the flight controller, and the ESC outputs control voltage for the actuator. Accordingly, the regulator must ensure:

Flight controller compatible.
Maximum current for motor (calculated from motor and propeller specifications) plus 20 – 30%.
The current consumption is less than the current supplied by the battery divided by the number of ESCs.

*Simple wiring diagram.

What are the regulators?

BEC and UBEC

In addition to the main function, the ESCs can also supply power to other components of the drone: the flight controller, servos, and so on. This is achieved by introducing a Battery Eliminator Circuit (hereinafter referred to as BEC) into the regulator.

The use of BEC greatly simplifies the design of the drone, but this scheme has a number of disadvantages. The battery exclusion unit may overheat under large voltage fluctuations and heavy loads. In addition, ESCs with BEC tend to be more expensive than ESCs without an ECU.

Agree, it would be more logical and cheaper to make a separate ESC and a separate BEC. There is such a solution and it is called the Universal Battery Eliminator Circuit, hereinafter referred to as UBEC.

Benefits of UBEC

UBEC

– connects directly to the battery and powers the desired node of the drone. The advantages of this approach are very significant:

ESCs will overheat less as BEC is removed from them
UBECs are highly efficient
Therefore, from the previous two points, UBEC is capable of delivering more current with less risk.
No overpayment for a few extra BECs located in the ESC. For some flight controllers it is strongly discouraged to connect more than one ESC BEC
Less weight regulators

Types of BECs and their benefits

There are two types of BEC: linear (LBEC) and pulsed (SBEC).

Linear converts energy into heat, and turns off when overheated. Which can lead to unpleasant results: at best, the copter will not be able to take off, and at worst, an uncontrolled fall. In this connection, it began to be used in assembly with servo drives, which, in turn, do not consume much current, preventing the unit from overheating.
Pulse regulates the voltage by quickly turning the power on and off, this approach eliminated overheating, increased output power, and made it possible to achieve an efficiency of 90%, and pulsed BECs outperform linear ones in weight. Interference that occurs in the circuit, which adversely affects the operation of radio equipment, is eliminated by adding an LC filter.

Given that many manufacturers install filters on their UBECLCs (and if there is still no filter, then it can be bought cheaply and easily installed), professionals use SBEC regulators in their quadcopters.

ESC Software

Since the speed controller performs some conversions at a high frequency and can be configured for various modes of operation, a separate software called firmware is written for it. This allows you to correct past errors in control algorithms, create more advanced firmware (and thereby, for example, reduce battery consumption at medium throttle) and make flexible settings. In copters of well-known companies such as DJI, the controller software is changed automatically using the flight controller.

Attention! Overwriting software for speed controllers can lead to various kinds of damage to the drone, as well as removal from warranty service! Remember that you are doing this at your own risk!

How to change software?

There are several ways to change the controller software:

Using a dedicated control board
Using the flight controller
Using the ASP programmer

The third option is simpler and is currently being actively introduced into new models.

Speed controller selection

Based on all of the above, we can distinguish special criteria for choosing a speed controller for a drone:

Flight controller compatible. The flight controller must support BEC and ESC firmware.
Compatible with motor and battery specifications.
Presence or absence of BEC and its type (LBEC or SBEC).
Heat dissipation and tightness.

What Is a Brushless Motor?

Motor types?

There are two types of motors/motors in multirotor machines:

Collector (in English Brushed / DC / Coreless).
Brushless (in English. Brushless).

Their main difference is that for a collector motor, the windings are on the rotor (rotating part), and for a brushless motor, on the stator. Without going into details, we will say that a brushless motor is preferable to a collector motor, since it most satisfies the requirements set before it. Therefore, in this article we will focus on this type of motors. You can read more about the difference between brushless and brushed motors in this article.

Despite the fact that the use of BC motors began relatively recently, the very idea of their device appeared quite a long time ago. However, it was the advent of transistor switches and powerful neodymium magnets that made their commercial use possible.

Device BC – motors

The design of a brushless motor consists of a rotor on which magnets are fixed and a stator on which the windings are located. Just according to the relative position of these components, BC engines are divided into inrunner and outrunner.

In multi-rotor systems, the Outrunner scheme is more often used, since it allows you to get the most torque.

Pros and cons of BC engines

Pros:

Simplified design of the motor due to the exclusion of the collector from it.
Higher efficiency.
Good cooling.
BC engines can work in water! However, do not forget that due to water, rust can form on the mechanical parts of the engine and it will break after some time. To avoid such situations, it is recommended to treat the engines with a water-repellent lubricant.
Least radio interference.

Minuses:

Of the minuses, only the impossibility of using these engines without ESC (rotation speed controllers) can be noted. This somewhat complicates the design and makes BK motors more expensive than collector ones. However, if the complexity of the design is a priority parameter, then there are BC motors with built-in speed controllers.

How to choose motors for a copter?

When choosing brushless motors, first of all, you should pay attention to the following characteristics:

Maximum current – this characteristic shows what maximum current the motor winding can withstand in a short period of time. If this time is exceeded, then engine failure is inevitable. This parameter also affects the choice of ESC.
The maximum voltage – as well as the maximum current, shows how much voltage can be applied to the winding for a short period of time.
KV is the number of engine revolutions per volt. Since this indicator directly depends on the load on the motor shaft, it is indicated for the case when there is no load.
Resistance – the efficiency of the engine depends on the resistance. So the lower the resistance, the better.

What Is a Flight Controller?

Definition

Flight controller – (aka: brains, flight board, computer, controller) is a device that ensures the flight of the copter, controlling gas, roll, pitch and yaw (throttle, pitch, roll, yaw).

Functions

In general, the flight controller performs the following functions:

Collects information from sensors (installed on it or external: compass, GPS, gyroscopes, etc.);
Sets/calculates its position in space according to sensors;
Collects information about external control actions (deviations of the stick by the pilot or the next step of the program/autopilot algorithm);
Calculates discrepancies and Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) coefficients, in accordance with the firmware / program of autopilot or manual control;
Sends control / corrective signals to actuators (speed controllers).

Principle of operation

The flight controller commands the speed controllers via pulse-width modulation (PWM / PWM), where the controller mode is set by the duration of the pulses, or via the Inter-Integrated Circuit (IIC / I2C) serial interface, where the controller mode is set by digital signals: the first determines the device address , the second – sets a value from 0 to 255. The PWM method is most often used.

What are there?

Flight controllers from various manufacturers are widely represented, such as MultiWii, Ardupilot, 3DRobotics (Pixhawk), HoverFly Pro (OpenPilot and CopterControl), CopterControl3D (CC3D Rabbit Flight Controller), Mikrokopter, etc. Most of them have “open source”, which means software the ability to change any parameter of the flight controller, up to writing your own program / firmware for controlling the copter. The quality and cost of such “brains” are usually lower, and there are incommensurably more opportunities for experimentation, as well as opportunities for making mistakes.

Which is better?

There is a simple rule – the more expensive the flight controller, the more stable and reliable the multicopter will be. The fact is that leading manufacturers use high-quality hardware components and high-quality software for configuration and management. These manufacturers include DJI with the Naza-M V2 controller, its lightweight version – NAZA-M Lite, as well as professional WooKong-M and A2.

Of the advantages, it should be noted: a fairly convenient location of connectors for connecting the necessary devices and related peripherals; reliability of connectors; plastic case, for protection against external influences. There is also built-in vibration decoupling to protect sensitive sensors located on the board from harmful vibrations of the flight controller body, which inevitably occur during the operation of the power plant. Thus, we can say that this is a finished product, maximally prepared for out-of-the-box flights.

Almost all “famous” controllers have copies, sometimes of quite good quality, which sometimes cannot leave you indifferent when building, for example, a backup device. One way or another, this choice is rather from a series of “religious”. In any case, when choosing a flight controller, remember that this is the “brain” of your system, and most importantly when flying – safety (and the miser pays twice).

What Is the Difference: Tricopter, Quadcopter, Octocopter, Hexacopter?

Why quadcopter?

It is intuitively clear that a quadcopter is an aircraft with four propellers / propellers and a vertical arrangement of their axes. The type of multicopter is determined by the layout of the frame (arms) and the number of motors/propellers. The most common copters have which the number of rays is equal to the number of propellers:

Tricopter (3 propellers)

Quadcopter (4 propellers)

Hexacopter (6 propellers)

Octocopter (8 propellers)

In turn, frames can have 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 or even more beams. Variants of coaxial arrangement of engines on the beam are also possible, but they are used less frequently. Let’s give an example: if there are 3 engines and propellers, and they are located on three beams, then this is a tricopter, but if two engines with propellers for each beam are placed coaxially on the same frame, then this is already a hexacopter according to the “Y” or “Y6” scheme ” (or “coaxial tricopter”). The same applies to the quadrocopter and octocopter according to the “X4” or “X8” scheme.

Hexacopter according to the scheme “Y” or “Y6”

Differences

What else could be the differences between them, except for the number of engines? Let’s try to understand in more detail.

Tricopters (“quadcopters” and hexacopters according to the scheme: Y3, Y4 and Y6 and Y4) — have a specific design. With the Y3 scheme, the design has a servo-based tail beam/beam slewing mechanism assembly (see photo below), which does not add reliability and can add problems when designing the copter. A small number of engines obliges the designer to increase their power, i.e., it is more difficult to obtain a large lifting force for additional equipment in this case.

However, there are fans of such schemes. Someone uses this design because of the aircraft-helicopter look and flight mode, someone finds it similar to the American Osprey and beats it in the design of the case. However, this scheme is used by enthusiasts for entertainment, flight stunts, FPV flights and filming with action cameras like GoPro.

Quadcopters (more rarely X8 octocopters) are the most popular, simple and versatile branch of copters at the moment. They are distinguished by the relative cheapness of components, stability, compactness and a minimum of thinking about mechanics. Thrust-to-weight ratio is sufficient to use gimbal with system cameras and GoPro. At the same time, maneuverability and weight still allow you to feel the enthusiasm and confidence when piloting.

With the right approach to the construction of a quadcopter, there will be enough thrust for all the payload that you may need, and flight time in order to enjoy the use. Using quadcopters (for example, DJI, the Phantom family, which is still very popular), you can achieve really impressive results in aerial photography. It is also worth noting the high maintainability of quad-beam quadcopters in case of crashes/accidents. A lot of people start with just such UAVs, since they are the very “golden mean” and a field for experiments.

Hexacopters and octocopters are the most stable, expensive and heavy devices. As a rule, the purpose of their appearance is high-quality shooting on heavy professional photo and video cameras. Such drones use powerful motors, batteries and bulky suspensions. Those. this is already a full-fledged professional filming equipment, and not amateur experimental designs.

But the more complex the equipment, and the more critical nodes it contains, the higher the probability of an unmanned device failure. In the case of “hexa” and higher multicopters, there are cases when one of the motors fails, the copter safely (not without nerves, of course) carried out a soft landing.

What Is the Best Quadcopter for a Beginner?

Where to begin

First of all, a beginner needs to choose a cheap quadcopter! A quadcopter for a novice pilot will inevitably fall and crash into obstacles. And since the drone is a rather fragile thing, your money will be wasted.

What to pay attention to?

There are six main features and functions to look out for:

Flight time

This is the time the drone will fly on a single battery charge. Usually, in the model specification, manufacturers indicate the maximum time, that is, the time obtained in tests under optimal launch conditions (without a camera, without propeller protection, without landing legs, in good calm weather, at an optimal level flight speed). In other words, in practice, you will not be able to get the flight time declared by the developer. It is worth considering this when buying!

Advice:

buy extra batteries now.

Airspeed

control radius

Presence of a camera

Control method

Return home

Key features of the right choice

Simple and convenient control panel
Crash resistance
small size
Availability of flight modes for a beginner
Good stabilization

Unfortunately, there is no quadcopter that would have all the listed characteristics. But manufacturers are trying, and every year new models appear on the market with functions and prices affordable to everyone.

Below is a detailed description of each feature.

Control

Control panel (equipment, transmitter)

The remote control should not have many buttons, so as not to confuse a beginner. And the size of the remote control should match in size and shape with the joysticks of popular game consoles.

Crash resistance

A beginner with no experience in piloting a quadcopter will inevitably drop it and crash into obstacles. Therefore, the crash resistance must be high.

small size

When hitting obstacles, the size of the quadcopter will greatly influence the consequences of the crash. The small size will keep them to a minimum, both for those around you and for the drone itself.

Newbie flight modes

For a beginner, it will be best if the copter has several switchable dynamic modes (Slow / Medium / Fast) in the arsenal of the copter. The presence of the “Headless” mode will allow a novice pilot to control the quadcopter without worrying about its position in the air (no matter which side the drone is turned to the pilot). Also, the Return to Home or RTH function will not be superfluous, when, when you press a button, the drone returns to the control panel in automatic mode.

Advice:

Despite the fact that the Headless mode greatly facilitates the first steps in learning to fly, we still strongly recommend that you immediately abandon it. Firstly, as practice shows, this approach allows you to fully adapt to piloting a copter, which in the future will significantly affect the quality of control of already more expensive UAVs. Secondly, this mode is applicable exclusively to toys and you will not find it in the arsenal of advanced models, which you will come to sooner or later ????! Instead, combine the practical learning process with an FPV simulator, this will allow you to quickly master the basics of UAV piloting and progress in this direction.

Good stabilization

The presence of a four or six axis gyroscope will allow the quadrocopter to stay more stable in the air, and the beginner to avoid crashing with minor errors in control. You can find the best models for beginner pilots in the table below or here.

Let’s summarize

So, if you really want to get acquainted with this exciting hobby, you need to start small! Save yourself from the desire to immediately buy expensive top models, no matter how technologically advanced they are, since the primary task of a beginner — learn how to confidently and stably control the copter within sight without the participation of electronic assistants. The simpler the first quadcopter, the better.

Combine practice with an FPV simulator to increase the number of training sessions and thus progress faster and without annoying consequences. Note! Practice shows that those who have gone the long way show better piloting skills in the future, the level of which, among other things, will inevitably affect both the number of errors made and the quality of interaction with the drone and its payload. That’s all we have, we hope our recommendations were useful to you. Good luck! And fly safely!

Video

A short instructive animated video on how not to fly a quadcopter. Remember – safety is paramount!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_msjeMA9Vfc

What Is the Difference Between Brushed and Brushless Motors?

Introduction

Surely every beginner who first connected his life with radio-controlled electric models, after a thorough study of the filling, has a question. What are brushed and brushless motors? Which one is better to put on your radio-controlled electric model?

The brushed motors so often used to power radio controlled electric models have only two outgoing power wires. One of them is “+” the other is “-“. In turn, they are connected to the speed controller. Having disassembled the collector motor, you will always find there 2 curved magnets, a shaft together with an anchor, on which a copper thread (wire) is wound, where a gear is on one side of the shaft, and on the other side there is a collector assembled from plates, which include pure copper.

The principle of operation of the collector motor

Electric current (DC or direct current), flowing to the armature windings (depending on their number for each in turn) creates an electromagnetic field in them, which has a south pole on one side and a north pole on the other.

Many people know that if you take any two magnets and attach them poles of the same name to each other, then they will not come together for nothing, and if they are attached with opposite names, then they will stick so that it is not always possible to separate them.

So, this electromagnetic field that occurs in any of the armature windings, interacting with each of the poles of the stator magnets, drives (rotation) the armature itself. Further, the current passes through the collector and brushes to the next winding, and so sequentially, passing from one armature winding to another, the motor shaft rotates together with the armature, but only as long as voltage is applied to it.

In a standard collector motor, the armature has three poles (three windings) – this is done so that the engine does not “stick” in one position.

Cons of collector motors

By themselves, collector motors do a good job with their work, but this is only until the moment when it becomes necessary to get the highest possible speed from them at the output. It’s all about the very brushes mentioned above. Since they are always in close contact with the collector, as a result of high speeds, friction occurs at the place of their contact, which in the future will cause rapid wear of both and subsequently lead to a loss of effective electric power. engine. This is the most significant disadvantage of such motors, which nullifies all its positive qualities.

The principle of operation of a brushless motor

Here, the opposite is true, brushless motors do not have both brushes and a commutator. The magnets in them are located strictly around the shaft and act as a rotor. Windings that already have several magnetic poles are placed around it. A so-called sensor (sensor) is installed on the rotor of brushless motors, which will control its position and transmit this information to the processor that works in conjunction with the rotation speed controller (data exchange on the position of the rotor occurs more than 100 times per second). As a result, we get a smoother operation of the motor itself with maximum efficiency.

Brushless motors can be with a sensor (sensor) and without it. The absence of a sensor slightly reduces the efficiency of the motor, so their absence is unlikely to upset a beginner, but on the other hand, the price tag will pleasantly surprise you. It is easy to distinguish them from each other. For motors with a sensor, in addition to 3 thick power wires, there is also an additional loop of thin ones that go to the speed controller. It is not worth chasing motors with a sensor for both a beginner and an amateur, because only the pros will appreciate their potential, and the rest will simply overpay, and significantly.

Advantages of brushless motors

Almost no wear parts. Why “almost”, because the rotor shaft is mounted on bearings, which in turn tend to wear out, but their resource is extremely large, and their interchangeability is very simple. These motors are very reliable and efficient. A rotor position sensor is installed. On collector motors, the operation of brushes is always accompanied by sparking, which subsequently causes interference in the operation of radio equipment. So, for collectorless, as you already understood, these problems are excluded. No friction, no overheating, which is also a significant advantage. Compared to collector motors, they do not require additional maintenance during operation.

Cons of brushless motors

These motors have only one minus, this is the price. But if you look at it from the other side, and take into account the fact that the operation of brushless motors immediately frees the owner from such troubles as replacing springs, anchors, brushes, collectors, then you can easily give preference to the latter.

What Is a Quadcopter?

What is a quadcopter?

A quadcopter is a type of multicopter. Multicopter – a multi-engine or multi-rotor aircraft (helicopter), the rotors of which rotate diagonally in opposite directions. Multicopters differ in the number of motors (or in the number of rotors). In our time, multicopters with three or more main rotors have received application.

The most common schemes are: 4/6/8 rotors. An apparatus with three rotors is called a tricopter; with four – quadrocopter; with six – hexacopter and with eight rotors – octocopter. The use of each of the schemes mainly determines such a parameter as the payload mass, or, more simply, the weight that the multicopter can take on board.

Examples of modern multi-rotor solutions.

Modern multi-rotor solutions from different price niches:

From the history

It all started back in 1922 with -American aircraft designer Georgy Alexandrovich Botezat. Who invented the first working quadcopter of its kind. His apparatus was able not only to get off the ground, but also to hold out in the air for some time. At that time, such devices had one significant drawback – the principle of operation.

Of the four rotors, only one was leading (the rotation was set by an internal combustion engine), i.e. torque, through a complex transmission, was transmitted by one motor to the remaining 3 rotors. It did not reach serial development. And such inventions as the “Tail rotor” and “Swashplate” forced to completely abandon the development of multi-rotor aircraft, after which the world’s first helicopter was later created.

With the onset of the 21st century, multicopters came into our lives already as unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.

The main components of multicopters

Purely technically, about 5 years ago, three main components of multicopters (drones) appeared:

The battery is lithium polymer (LiPo), less often lithium-ion (Li-Ion).
Brushless or collector motors on rare earth elements.
Remote controller (Remote control/Instrument/Transmitter)

Operating principle

The principle of operation of a modern multicopter is simple. Depending on the application scheme (3/4/6/8-rotor) each main rotor is driven by an electric motor (electric motor). One half of the motors rotates the propellers clockwise and the other half counterclockwise. Thanks to this approach, the control of a multicopter does not require the use of a tail rotor in the drone design and a complicated swashplate.

*The order of the direction of rotation of the main rotors of the multicopter.

Flight control example:

Increasing the speed on all rotors – lifting.
Reducing the speed on all rotors – reduction.
Increasing the speed of one half of the screws and decreasing the speed of the other half will set the movement to the side.
Increasing RPM for clockwise propellers and decreasing RPM for counterclockwise propellers will ensure the drone turns.

*Scheme of flight control by rotation of rotors.

Motors

On modern multicopters (drones), two types of electric motors are currently used – collector and brushless. Brushless drones are mainly equipped with expensive and professional drones. Collector motors are equipped only with budget options, toys. You can learn more about their differences here.

Control

The multicopter is controlled by a remote controller (it is also a control panel, equipment, transmitter) through outgoing radio waves (usually at frequencies of 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz).

To make the multicopter respond to the requests of the control panel, the drone is equipped with a whole range of electronic systems:

The microprocessor (flight controller, implemented as a microcircuit) is responsible for the operation and control of the entire electronic filling of the drone.

Gyroscope – responsible for the stable behavior of the drone during the flight (as a rule, it provides stabilization along 6 axes of direction).

Accelerometer – Using this sensor, the processor can set the drone to a horizontal position relative to the ground.

Barometric sensor (barometer) – provides the drone with a stable hover at the height chosen by the pilot.

Sonar (ultrasonic sensor) – provides automatic landing and low altitude hold (1.5 – 3.5 meters), can also be used to fly around obstacles.

GPS module – provides the geographic positioning of the drone, using data received from satellite systems. Thanks to its presence, the function of point-to-point flight is implemented, return to the take-off point in case of loss of communication or low battery charge, and also allows you to take flight readings, both at the time of the flight and after.

* The simplest scheme of a quadrocopter device.

What are there?

Currently, the home drone market offers a huge number of multicopters (drones), but in general they can be divided into three large groups: Beginner/Amateur/Professional.

For newbies

– suitable for both children and adults for the purpose of the first acquaintance and training. As a rule, they are equipped with a microprocessor, a 6-axis gyroscope and a simple barometric sensor to provide altitude hold.

amateur

– for pilots who already have UAV experience. More suitable for a specific application. For example, for aerial photography, or for sports such as drone racing. Drones of this group can have autonomous flight and shooting functions.

Professional

– suitable exclusively for experienced pilots who use the capabilities of multicopters (drones) in the professional field. For example, professional photo and video shooting, geodesy, monitoring of land, traffic, in rescue operations, etc. In most cases, drones have autonomous flight and shooting functions. The electronic filling is assembled from high-precision modern systems that ensure removal over long distances, and the power allows you to spend much more time in flight. A characteristic difference between such multicopters is their price.

For a more complete acquaintance with unmanned systems, we recommend the topic “What is a drone?”.

What Is a Drone?

What is a drone?

A drone is, in a technological context, an unmanned aerial vehicle. Drones are formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs/UAVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS) or unmanned aerial systems (UAS or Unmanned Aircraft Systems). Essentially an unmanned flying robot. Drones can be controlled remotely, or they can fly autonomously using built-in software (flight plan) that works in close connection with on-board sensors and GPS systems.

In the recent past, unmanned aerial vehicles have had exclusively military applications, where they were originally used to destroy air targets and collect intelligence information. Now drones have a wide range of civilian applications, ranging from search and rescue, surveillance, weather monitoring, traffic monitoring, firefighting, personal use, business focusing on photography and video, agriculture, and even delivery services.

Historical facts

The first unmanned aerial vehicle was implemented in 1935 using the De Havilland DH82B “Queen Bee” full-sized biplane as an example. It was equipped with a radio receiver and a control servo placed in the back seat. Subsequently, it was used as a live target at firing practice from anti-aircraft installations in order to train gunners. A total of 380 De Havilland DH82B “Queen Bee” aircraft were built. The term “drone” was born thanks to this historical event.

At the end of 2012, Chris Anderson stepped down as editor-in-chief of Wired magazine to take up drone work at 3DRobotics Inc. Later, within the walls of this company, a unique APM flight code was first written, on the basis of which the well-known high-class autopilot, Pixhawk, was implemented. Currently, the company specializes in the field of UAVs and implements its advanced solutions in such areas as photo and video filming, construction, utilities, telecommunications services, as well as public safety.

*The founder of the unique Pixhawk is Chris Anderson.

At the end of 2013, the well-known public company Amazon was one of the first to use commercial drones in test mode to deliver products for sale. Later in 2016, this idea was supported by: Virginia Polytechnic University and the State Institute, together with the Alphabet Inc holding, using the Wing test project as an example, the purpose of which was to implement the delivery of goods purchased on the Internet or essentials using drones.

Drone production soon began to expand. Embry-Riddle – Aviation University, has long been a training ground for the aviation industry. It currently offers a Bachelor of Science in Unmanned Systems, a Master of Science in Unmanned Systems, and basic training courses in Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

2016 From BI Intelligence’s “The drones Report”: “Drone revenue will increase to $12 billion by 2021. BI Intelligence analysts estimate that in 2015 it was already over $8 billion.”

Drones have become widely used in the field of surveillance and journalism, since UAVs have the ability to access places where it is impossible for a person to reach.

Drones in the enterprise

The integration of drones and the internet has enabled the ubiquity of drones in businesses; Drones operate on terrestrial IoT sensor networks, help agricultural companies monitor land and crops, energy companies use drones to inspect power lines and related equipment.

Drones and security

The high demand for commercial and private drones has also raised a number of safety concerns regarding the consequences of collisions and loss of control. In this regard, many countries have introduced a number of amendments to the air code at the legislative level. There were no-fly zones “No fly”.

Do you know what a quadcopter is?

A photo

Military drones

Commercial drones

Civil drones

What Is Headless Mode for Drone?

Introduction

It is often necessary to observe the launches of various quadrocopters or other UAVs in headless mode. It is generally accepted that it greatly facilitates both the flight itself and the control of the drone in general, but nevertheless, for many, the presence of this mode is not entirely clear.

We owe the appearance of the “Headless” mode to Chinese manufacturers of inexpensive drones. It is on the quads of the budget segment that you can most often find this mode, in order to make it easier for beginners on their first flight. And before we start explaining what “Headless” mode is, let’s first talk about how the control of a quadcopter (drone) is implemented at a basic level.

Like any vehicle, a drone has a front and rear, but most often due to the symmetrical design, it is difficult to distinguish the front from the back of the drone in flight. To partially solve this problem, UAV manufacturers began to install rotors of different colors on the drone. For example, the red screws are for the front beam motors, and the black ones are for the rear beam motors.

But again, once the drone is in the air and flies away, it becomes impossible to distinguish between these colors, which again puts the problem of orientation into question. Manufacturers have gone further and began to equip their products with LED backlighting, but its effectiveness is reduced to zero in daylight sunlight.

How does drone orientation work in normal mode?

Thanks to the microcontroller installed in the drone, he always understands where he has the front and where the back is. And this fact is fundamental for all UAVs.

In normal mode (when the drone is back to the pilot) while the quad is flying straight, everything is clear, move the right stick to the left – the drone flies to the left, to the right – the drone flies to the right, forward – the drone flies forward, and towards you – the drone flies back (backwards) .

But it is only necessary to turn the drone 180º (in front of the pilot) in order to return, for example, to the place of takeoff, then by moving the stick to the left – the drone will turn to the right, to the right – the drone will turn to the left, forward – the drone will fly to the pilot, and if you deflect the stick towards yourself , then the drone will move away from the pilot. For a beginner, this state of affairs will be misleading. And that’s when headless mode comes to the rescue.

What is headless mode?

Simply put, Headless mode allows novice pilots not to worry about orientation in general. How the headless mode works is quite simple, the only prerequisite is that before activation and takeoff, the user must position the drone so that the front of the drone matches the upcoming flight direction. The mode is activated for each UAV model in its own way, the description of the process is in the instructions that come with the product.

By activating the “Headless mode” for the drone, it does not matter where it has the front at the time of flight, and where the rear is. It will obey strictly the position of the right stick, i.e. stick forward – we fly forward, stick back – we fly back, and it does not matter that the pilot turned the drone 180º. Thus, at the initial stage of training, the beginner will be able to concentrate solely on adapting to controlling the drone.

Subsequently, this mode is recommended to be abandoned, since it is not used in professional practice. And you won’t find it on PRO level drones.

It is also worth considering that, as practice shows, there are very few correctly working headless modes, which can complicate both the learning process and the flight itself. Therefore, it would be best to immediately stop flying in headless mode and start training in normal orientation mode.

Introduction

How it was…

balloons

bomb with wings

First unmanned aircraft

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»

Definition

Principle of operation

Communication with other components of the multicopter.

What are the regulators?

BEC and UBEC

Benefits of UBEC

UBEC

Types of BECs and their benefits

ESC Software

How to change software?

Speed ​​controller selection

Motor types?

Device BC – motors

Pros and cons of BC engines

Pros:

Minuses:

Minuses:

How to choose motors for a copter?

Definition

Functions

Principle of operation

What are there?

Which is better?

Why quadcopter?

Tricopter (3 propellers)

Quadcopter (4 propellers)

Hexacopter (6 propellers)

Octocopter (8 propellers)

Hexacopter according to the scheme “Y” or “Y6”

Differences

Where to begin

What to pay attention to?

Flight time

Advice:

Airspeed

control radius

Presence of a camera

Control method

Return home

Key features of the right choice

Control

Control panel (equipment, transmitter)

Crash resistance

Crash resistance

small size

Newbie flight modes

Advice:

Good stabilization

Let’s summarize

Video

Introduction

The principle of operation of the collector motor

Cons of collector motors

The principle of operation of a brushless motor

Advantages of brushless motors

Cons of brushless motors

What is a quadcopter?

Examples of modern multi-rotor solutions.

From the history

The main components of multicopters

Operating principle

Flight control example:

Motors

Control

What are there?

For newbies

amateur

Professional

What is a drone?

Historical facts

Drones in the enterprise

Drones and security

A photo

Speed controller selection