Tiltrotor Quadcopter

Tiltrotor aircrafts has been a dream for a long time in aviation industry.

Now they have become a reality. There are a life scale tiltrotors built for certain purposes.

Also in Quadcopter industry we can find Tilitrotor Quadcopters.

As the name implies, Tiltrotor Quadcopters can have their rotors and propellers tilted from the normal horizontal position facing the sky to be in vertical position giving the quadcopter very high speed. And that is the reason why FPV racing quadcopters usually have tiltrotors.

Bell Boeing quad tiltrotor

Boeing is building its own Quadcopter. 

The Bell Boeing quad tiltrotor is a proposed four-rotor derivative of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor.

I can take off and lank like a helicopter and cruise a fixed wing aircraft.

V-22 Osprey tiltrotor

Intel Quadcopter light show

Intel Quadcopter show

http://www.asctec.de/en/500-drones-to-set-record/

Facebook Drone Aquila

Facebook drone Aquila

Source:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/the-technology-behind-aquila/10153916136506634/

ARRIS FPV250 Quadcopter Racing Drone

ARRIS FPV250 250mm FPV 250 Quadcopter

Micro Drone

Evo Flyer Quadcopter

Evo Flye Quadcopter

Quadcopter built step : Success

Couple of months ago, I tried to build a mini quadcopter with small motors (7mm coreless motor)

I got those motors from Amazon and they just fit my needs to build a mini quadcopter.

I built the frame from wooden sticks and attached the motors to them.

I couldn't wait to make the quadcopter control and wanted to try to fly it directly using the battery without any control.

Of course, this is not a real trial to fly the quadcopter.

Since there is no meaning to fly the quadcopter without motor control.

But I was so excited that I wanted to see it lifted even without control.

The control circuit plays an important role for the quadcopter.

It controls each motor using PWM Pulse Width Modulation signals.

And it keeps the quadcopter leveled - or even tilted - depending on position information from the sensors (accelerometer and gyroscope).

The control circuit processes signals from sensors and then controls each motor accordingly using PWM.

I wanted to make this trial just to get this quadcopter flying quickly.

First, I connected all the motors in parallel with the Li-Po Lithium Polymer 3.7v battery.

Unfortunately, the quadcopter haven't been lifted even small centimeters of the ground while the motors were running at  full thrust.

Then, I connected a 12v DC power source with wires.

I thought of this a tethered quadcopter.

But also, the motors rotated and quadcopter didn't fly.

I was a little bit disappointed since I thought it would even step up of the ground.

My wife suggested that I connect the motors in series.

I thought it would be a good idea. Although the voltage for each motor will be the quarter of the total applied voltage. 12 volts / 4 motors = 3 volts for each motor.

But the current will be the same for each motor and is equal to the total current from the power supply.

This means larger current than the first trial (parallel connection) in which current was divided by four.

That is how I thought the results would be different from the first one. So I decided to try it.

And guess what happened !!! The motors rotated faster and the quadcopter was showing larger resistance to the gravity and lifted of the ground.

Now, I've learned three lessons from this trial before finishing the final quadcopter project:

The first lesson is psychological and sociological one.

I've learned that things may not run as you think it would from the first time.
You must NOT declare failure from the first trial.
Failure is not actually declared unless you declare it.

The other two lessons are technical:

- These motors need higher current to uplift the quadcopter not higher voltage. 
- The control circuit not only working on quadcopter stability, but also in this mini quadcopter plays the role of motor driver by giving them the proper current and voltage for rotation.

Hefny Copter

This is a website I found when searching for a tutorial about ardupilot

http://ardupilot.org/ http://www.hefnycopter.net/

Quadcopter Headless Mode

What is Headless Mode on a Quadcopter Drone?

This question has been ringing into my mind and I didn't find an answer to it.

What is Headless Mode?

In simple terms, headless mode is basically a method implemented on a drone that allows pilots to give up worrying about orientation altogether.

The functioning of headless mode is pretty simple; the only pre-requisite is that before taking off, you’re required to position the drone in such a way that its front is your front.

Since yaw (rotation around it’s own axis; controlled by the left stick on a Mode 2 controller) anyway doesn’t have anything to do with orientation (left is left and right is right all the time, regardless of where your drone is pointing at), it is how the drone reacts to rudder (‘swaying’; controlled by the right stick on a Mode 2 controller) that changes.

You can buy a headless mode quadcopter from Amazon from here

Source:

http://www.rcdronearena.com/2015/02/18/what-is-headless-mode-quad-copter-drone/

4D Variable Pitch Propeller

The Variable Pitch Propeller is a technology that enables the engine to change its thrust magnitude and direction without changing the speed or direction of its rotation.

This is achieved by pitch variation of the propellers ( changing the angel of attack )

In large aircrafts, VPP Variable Pitch Propeller is used to change the value or direction of thrust.

The C-130 is a good example. It can go backwards on the ground by reversible-pitch propellers without changing the the propeller rotation direction.

This maneuvers can be done in model aircrafts due to the high speed of motors compared to the light wight of aircraft body which is made of balsa wood or foam.

One of a C-130J Super Hercules' 6 bladed Dowty Rotol R391 composite controllable- and reversible-pitch propellers.

In R/C airplanes, this concept can be used in air. The airplane models can fly forward or backwards or in any other direction.

You can watch the videos.

 This is achieved by using this motor which varies the blades angle of attack.

    

                           



Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable-pitch_propeller       

Quadcopter from a dream

Today, I had a dream about quadcopters that I want to share it with you.

I had the dream in which I saw my brother bought me two quadcopters and we were flying them.

 

The quadcopter design was new. I didn't see something like it before. And I remember the propellers and the motors.

The strange thing is the that I hold the quadcopter and felt the force of resistance in my hand and explained it to myself as the gyroscopic force generated by the propellers motion.

                                                      

How Quadcopters Work

How Quadcopters Work

Human Scale Quadcopters - HoverBike

This is another human scale Quadcopter. 

The human carrying bike scale quadcopter can carry up to 130kg payload.

Sources:
http://www.hover-bike.com/

AirDog : Action Sports Drone

This is the auto follow quadcopter designed for action sports photography.

It has many features that make it a perfect fit for sports enthusiasts and professionals who use GoPro cameras.

This foldable quadcopter can follow you like your favorite dog by wearing this AirLeash (tracker device) on your wrist or helmet.

This means that you don't need to be a drone pilot to use this quadcopter. It is autonomous.

It can hold a constant distance and altitude as you are moving  into your way.

A very simple battery swapping takes nearly no time at all.

                                                                  
 Sources:
https://www.airdog.com

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/airdog/airdog-worlds-first-auto-follow-action-sports-dron




        

Vertex Hybrid Quadcopter

This is the Vertex Hybrid Quadcopter

The quadcopter company started a Kickstarter Campaign in 23 April 2015 to 23 May 2015.

The campaign only collected $15,979 but failed to reach the goal of $200,000.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1617348376/the-vertex-hybrid-uav?ref=nav_search 

Quadcopter Events/Competitions

Today I searched for some Quadcopter Events/Competitions.

The educational quadcopter competition in India, New Delhi

http://www.technoxian.com/quadcopters/

This is a competition for building and controlling quadcopters for students.

Human Carrying Quadcopter Ehang 184

This year, a change in drones and quadcopters industry has occurred.

The famous quadcopter giant Ehang has changed the game. The quadcopter is no longer the same small toy or a big flying object for aerial photography.

Ehang has introduced a  product that can change the quadcopter drone from the toy and photography scale into personal transportation business.

Yes, you can ride a quadcopter from Ehang to fly anywhere.



Ehang 184 is the first taxi drone.

 

The EHang 184 autonomous aerial vehicle is unveiled at the EHang booth at CES International, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016.  The drone is large enough to fit a human passenger

 

The quadcopter can carry one person and has a built in autopilot and navigation system. The drone control is done by programming the trip start and end points through a touch screen.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_drone


http://www.ehang.com/ehang184

http://www.ehang.com/ehang184/process/