Drone 2
Drone 2
Definition of drones
History of drones
Classification of drones based on structure- Fixed wing structure, Lighter than air
systems and Rotary-wing aircraft
Application of drones
Parts of Drone system
System design, Mechanical design, hardware design
software architecture
INTRODUCTION:
PARTS OF A DRONE
Props
D ensors/Gyros
Transmitter
Motors
KEY PARTS
From an engineer's view, the key parts of a drone system are the hardware, software, and
mechanical elements;
and a perfect balance between the three provides a flawless system design.
HARDWARE
Hardware is the electrical part of the drone system, which is eventually a PCBA (printed
circuit board assembly).
Hardware is a multilayer PCB that accommodates the SOC (system on a chip) and
different
components of the subsystems interconnected through copper traces (part of the PCB) or
physical wires. Figure shows the PCBA assembled with SOC and subsystems on the top
side (primary side).
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THE SOC
In general, there are three distinguishable types of SOCs: SOCs built around
mierocontroller, SOCs built around a microprocessor, and specialized SOCs designed for
specitie applications that do not fit into the above two categories. SOC usually consume
less power and have a lower cost than the multichip systems they replace.
RRT
inte
Figure shows a typical SOC that integrate digital, analog, and mixed signal devices on a
single chip. The device at the center of the SOC is the silicon, and some capacitors are
distributed on the top side of the SOC. The bottom side of the SOC shows pins (called as
balls in a ball grid array), which are soldered establish the
on toa PCB to
connection with
the subsystems through PCB traces.
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Subsystems
technologies rcquired in a system to fulfill the
Subsystems or electrical subsystems are
of the
intended usage of the system. Broadly speaking, subsystems fall into any one
"communication
following computer architectüre parts: input, output, storage, and
devices.
Input
and remote control are
A touch panel, keyboard, mouse, microphone, camera, sensors,
some examples of input devices of a system.
Output
of output devices of a
Displays, speakers, motors, fans, and LEDs are some examples
System.
Storage
Memory, flash, hard disk drive, optical drive, secure digital, and solid-state drive are
Communication Devices
Wired LAN (local area network), wireless LAN, mobile networks (3G, 4G, and LTE)
and USB are some examples of the communication
GPS (Global Positioning System),
above may or may not be a part of a
devices of system. All of the subsystems listed
a
Besides SOC, the camera module, wireless module (WiFi/3G/4G modules), memory.,
the basic required subsystems for a
internal storage, sensors, and flight controllers are
surveillance drone.
SOFTWARE
Application-specific componenis
MECHANICAL
The mechanical system is basically the enclosures, form factor, or simple ID (industrial
design) of the drone.
The ID determines the exterior and appearance of the drone. The ID of the drone will
usually have numerous mechanical parts in a complicated assembly with electrical parts
interconnected through mechanical or thermal interconnects.
The most popular drone, has a quadcopter built from an X-frame or H-frame with four
servo motor/propeller units on each end with numerous other mechanical parts along with
the PCBA enclosed in plastic.
A drone with frame as a base includes propellers, motors, landing gear, body (usually
PCBA, flight controllers, and motor drivers), and a battery.
HISTORY OF DRONES
With the maturing and miniaturization of applicable technologies in the 1980s and 1990s,
interest in UAVs grew U.S. military. In the 1990s, the U.S. DoD gave a contract to AAI
Corporation along with Israeli company Malat. The U.S. Navy bought the AAl Pioneer
UAV that AAI and Malat developed jointly. Many of these UAVs saw service in
the 1991 Gulf War. UAVs demonstrated the possibility of cheaper, more capable fighting
machines, deployable without risk to aircrews. Initial generations primarily
involved surveillance aircraft, but some carried armaments, such as the General Atomics
MQ-1 Predator, that launched AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles.
CAPECON was a European Union project to develop UAVs, running fromI May 2002
to 31 December 2005.
As of 2012, the USAF employed 7,494 UAVs - almost one in three USAF aircraf.
The Central Intelligence Agency also operated UAVs. By 2013 at least 50 countries used
UAVs. China, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey, and others designed and built their own
varieties. The use of drones has continued to increase. Due to their wide proliferation, no
comprehensive list of UAV systems exists.
The development of smart technologies and improved electrical power systems led to a
parallel increase in the use of drones for consumer and general aviation activities.
CLASSIFICATION
UAVs may be classificd ike any other aircraft, according to design configuration such as
Some UAVs offer intermediate degrees of autonomy. for example, a vehicle that is
remotely piloted in most contexts but having an autonomous return-to-base operation.
Some aircraft types may optionally fly manned or as UAVs, which may include manned
aircraft transformed into uncrewed or Optionally Piloted UAVs (OPVs).
Based on the altitude, the following UAV classifications have been used at industry
events such as Unmanned Systems forum:
MALE (medium altitude, long endurance) up to 30,000 ft (9,000 m) and range over
200km
HALE (high altitude, long endurance) over 30,000 ft (9,100 m) and indefinite range
TYPES OF DRONES
Drones can be categorized into the following six types based on their mission:
Combat: Combat drones are used for attacking in the high-risk missions. They are also
known as Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV).
They cary missiles for the missions. Combat drones are much like planes.
Logistics: Logistics drones are used for delivering goods or cargo. There is a number of famous
companies, such as Amazon and Domino's, which deliver goods and pizzas via drones. It is
easier to ship cargo with drones when there is a lot of traffic on the streets, or the route is not
easy to drive.
Civil: Civil drones are tor general usage, such as monitoring the agriculture fields, data
collection, and aerial photography. The following picture is of an aerial photography drone:
Reconnaissance:
These kinds of drones are also known as mission-control drones. A drone is assigned to do a task
and it does automatically, and usually returns to the base by itself, so they are used to get
information from the enemy on the battleficld. These kinds of drones are supposed to be small
and easy to hide. The following diagram is a reconnaissance drone for your reference, they may
vary depending on the usage:
Target and decoy:
These kinds of drones are like combat
the attack
drones, but the difference is, the combat drone
capabilities for the high-risk mission and the target and provides
ground and aerial gunnery with a target that simulates the decoy drones provide the
missile or enemy aircrafts.
Classify drones by their wing types. There are three types of drones depending on their
wings or flying mechanism:
Fixed wing:
A fixed wing drone has a rigid wing. They look like airplanes. These types of drones
have a very good battery life, as they use only one motor (or less than the multi-wing).
They can fly at a high altitude.
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They can
caity more
weight because they can float on air for the wings. There are also
some disadvantages of fixed
wing drones. They are
knowledge of acrodynamics. They break a lot and trainingexpensive
and require a good
is required to fly them.
The launching of the drone is hard
and the landing of these
The most important types of drones is difficult.
thing you should know about the fixed wing drones is they can only
move forward. To change the directions
to left or right, we need to create air
from the wing. pressure
ROTARY wING
Single rotor: Single rotor drones are simply like helicopter. They are strong and thee
propeller is designed in a way that it helps to both hover and change directions.
Remember, the single rotor drones can only hover vertically in the air.
They are good with battery power as they consume less power than a multirotor.
The payload capacity of a single rotor is good. However, they are dificult to fly.
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They can
carry more weight because they float
can on air for the
disadvantages of fixcd wing drones. They are expensive wings.
some There are also
and require a good
knowledge of acrodynamics. T'hey brcak a lot and
training is required to fly them.
The launching of the drone is hard
and the landing of these
types of drones is
The most important
thing you should know about the fixed wing drones is they difficult
can only
move forward. To
change the directions to left or right, we need to create air pressure
from the wing.
ROTARY WING
Single rotor: Single rotor drones are simply like helicopter. They are strong and the
propeller is designed in a way that it helps to both hover and change directions.
Remember, the single rotor drones can only hover vertically in the air.
They are good with battery power as they consume less power than a multirotor.
The payload capacity of a single rotor is good. However, they are dificult to ny.
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Multirotor: Multirotor drones
arc the most
classified depending on the common among the drones.
They are
number of wings they have, such as
or rotors),
quadcopter (four rotors), hexacopter (six rotors), and tricopter (three propellers
octocopter (eight rotors).
The most common
multirotor is the quadcopter.
The multirotors are casy control. They are good with
to
off and land payload delivery. They can take
vertically, almost anywhere. The flight is more stable than the
and the fixed single rotor
wing.
One of the
disadvantages of the multirotor is power consumption. As they have a number
of motors, they consume a lot of power.
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From the name of these types of drones, you
name. The ARF drones
can
imagine why they are called by this
require a lot of patience to assemble and bind to fly. Just be calm
while assembling.
Plastic
carbon Tber
A propeller converts rotational motion into thrust in agreement with the Bernoulli's
principle. Aircraft propellers are characterized by the size, pitch, nmumber of blades, and
type of material. Carbon fiber propellers are more expensive than plastic ones and
provide better performance. They are more rigid and produce less vibration when
spinning.
I n addition, they are lighter and more durable during small crashes. However, as they are
more rigid, the motor bearings support higher impacts during crashes.
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Unmanned aerial vehicle
Aircraft
Computing
body power
Remote
Control
Energy
supply Com (e.g.ground
module Control
station)
Sensors Actuators Data link
FEATUREs
Crewed and uncrewed aircraft of the
physical components. The main
same type generally have recognizably similar
life
exceptions are the cockpit and environmental control
system or
support systems.
Some UAVs
carry payloads (such as a camera) that weigh considerably less than an adult
human, and asresult, can be considerably smaller. Though they
a
carry heavy payloads,
weaponized military UAVs are lighter than their crewed
armaments. counterparts with comparable
Control systems for UAVs are often different than crewed craft. For
remote human
control, a camera and video link almost
always replace the cockpit windows;
transmitted digital commands
replace physical radio
used on both crewed and uncrewed aircraft, with cockpit
controls. Autopilot software is
varying feature sets.
PARTS OF BLOCK DIAGRAM
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Position and movement
sensors give information about the aircraft
sensors deal with state. Exteroceptive
extermal information like distance
Exproprioceptive ones correlatc internal and external states. measurements, while
Non-cooperative sensors are able to detect
separation assurance and collision avoidance. targets autonomously so
they are used tor
Degrees otf
freedom (DOF) refers to both the
DOF implies 3-axis gyroscopes and and quality of sensors on board: 6
amount
Actuators
UAV actuators include digital electronic
motors) linked speed controllers (which control the RPM of the
motors/engines and propellers, servomotors (for planes
to
and helicopters
mostly), weapons, payload actuators, LEDs and speakers.
Software
UAV software called the
flight stack or autopilot. The purpose of the flight stack is to
obtain data from sensors, control
motors to ensure UAV
control and mission stability, and facilitate ground
planning communication.
UAVs real-time systems that require
are
rapid response to changing sensor data. As a
result, UAVs rely on single-board
computers for their computational needs. Examples of
such single-board computers include Raspberry Pis,
with NavI0, PXFMini, Beagleboards, etc. shielded
designed from scratch such as NuttX, preemptive-RT
etc. or
Linux, Xenomai, Orocos-Robot Operating System or DDS-ROS 2.0.
APPLICATION OF DRONES
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MILITARY
Drones in
military applications arc uscd for anti-aircraft target practice, intelligence
gathering and, more controversially, as weapons platforms.
INDUSTRIAL
The integration of drones and loT (Internct of Things) lechnology has created nurnerous
ndustral and enterprise usc cascs: drones working with on-ground 1OT sensor networks
can heip agTicultural companies monitor land and crops, energy companies survey power
mes and operational equipment, and insurance companies monitor properties for claims
and/or policies.
COMMERCIAL
The commercial field is a growing development, where the largest, strongest, fastest, and
most capable drones on the market are targeted toward the professional community. They
are the types of machines that the movie industry puts to work and that commercial
agencies use to inspect infrastructure.
Some impressive self-piloted drones survey individual farmer's fields. Commercial
drones are the smaller consumer products that make up just a tiny portion of the overall
drone market. Look at the picture of commercial drone:
MECHANICAL DESIGN
of mechanical parts in drone ID. This is also the
Figure shows the typical stack-up a
cross-sectional view of the mechanical design of the drone, and the significance of each
part is explained below. This stack-up may differ for drones in ditferent applications.
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Propeller EnclosureTop Propeller
Motor
DB Motor
Air Gao
X-Frame
2. Propeller motor: This is a DC motor attached to the four cormers of the X-Frame.
Power from the drone's clectrical system rotates the blades to provide thrust to the drone.
3 . Enclosure top: A plastic or fiber mechanical enclosure of the drone protects the
internal electrical and mechanical subsystems from the extermal disturbances. Enclosures
also provide the aesthetic look for the drone as a product.
4. X-frame: This is the vertebra of the drone. All of the other mechanical parts and
subsystems of the drone are attached to the X-frame through different types of fasteners
or ties. The X-frame is symmetrical by dimensions and weight on all sides to achieve a
balanced flight of the drone. So the crOss-sectional view is symmetrical on axis.
Enclosure bottom: A plastic or fiber mechanical enclosure of the drone protects the
internal electrical and mechanical subsystems from the external disturbances. Enclosures
also provide the aesthetic look for the drone as a product.
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films and sheets. it
6. Mylar: A form of polyester resin used to make heat-resistant plastic
X-
conductive layer of the PCBA and the metallic
acts as an insulation layer between the
frame.
the
of the electrical parts of
7 . MB (motherboard): The PCBA of the system hosts all
the same layer can
system soldered on to it. By modifying the PCBA shape,
system.
is the camera
lower-most part of the drone in this application
12. Camera module: The when drone fly high.
a better field of view (FOV)
module. Attached on the bottom to get
SOC through the USB 3.1
accommodate ISPs and connect to the
Most camera modules connect to
camera sensor can directly
interface. If the SOC has integrated ISPs, then the
interfaces.
the SOC with camera-specific
can't be accommodated in the single
13. DB(daughterboard): If all of the ingredients
on the system to accommodate
PCBA, then there can be several daughterboards connected through
additional Motherboards and daughterboards can be
ingredients.
board-to-board interconnections or a flex PCB interconnect.
for an ID.
14. FPC (flexible PCB): Generally used to connect one or more rigid PCBs in a complex
system.
sOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE
Software is the driver (in a
way) of a
system. In other words, the hardware
capabilities, while the software uses the same, makes it run, and provides the
functionality. provides the desired
Two weeks is not a standard practice; it depends on the lead time of the parts used in the BOM.
The lead time of some special parts can be in terms of months. Any part added at the last minute
with a month-long lead time will hold the PCBA and system build until that part docks in the
factory.
1. Syed Omar Faruk Towaha, "Building Smart Drones with ESP8266 and Arduino: Build
exciting drones by leveraging the capabilities of Arduino and ESP8266" Packt Publishing,
2018
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