What is a drone and how do drones work is answered
here in this easy to understand article. UAV drone technology is constantly
evolving as new innovation and big investment are bringing more advanced drones
to the market every few months.
Below, we discuss UAV technology on the most
popular drones on the market, which have all the latest drone technology.
Most UAV drones will have very similar systems incorporated.
Also included is the latest list of top drones with
cameras on the market right now.
Unmanned aerial vehicle technology covers
everything from the aerodynamics of the drone, materials in the manufacture of
the physical UAV, to the circuit boards, chipset and software, which are the
brains of the drone
One of the most popular drones on the market is the
DJI Phantom series. These drones are very popular with professional
aerial cinematographers.
This Phantom UAVs are ideal to explain drone technology
because they have everything in one package. It includes the UAV, gimbal
and camera. They also have some of the top drone technology on the market
today.
In the past few months, more new and highly advanced drones such
as the DJI Mavic Mini, Mavic 2, Mavic Air 2, Phantom 4 Pro V2.0, Yuneec Typhoon
H3 and Autel Evo 2 have come to the market.
The fast pace of UAV drone technological innovation
is tremendous. I’ve included these latest drone technology advancements
in the below article. So this article is right up to date including all
links.
How Drones Work
A typical unmanned aircraft is made of light
composite materials to reduce weight and increase maneuverability. This
composite material strength allows military drones to cruise at extremely high
altitudes.
UAV drones are equipped with different state of the
art technology such as infrared cameras, GPS and laser (consumer, commercial
and military UAV). Drones are controlled by remote ground control systems (GSC)
and also referred to as a ground cockpit.
An unmanned aerial vehicle system has two parts,
the drone itself and the control system.
The nose of the unmanned aerial vehicle is where
all the sensors and navigational systems are present. The rest of the body is
full of drone technology systems since there is no space required to
accommodate humans.
The engineering materials used to build the drone
are highly complex composites designed to absorb vibration, which decrease the
sound produced. These materials are very light weight.
What Is A Drone
And UAV Technology
Below we examine the science and drone technology
behind the DJI Phantom UAV. We also have plenty of information on the
latest drone technologies from the newest drones on the market.
There are plenty of links, where you can read
deeper into various components of drone technology. For example, here is a
terrific drone components overview article.
This gives information on the individual components seen in most drones.
Drone Types And
Sizes
UAV drones come in a wide variety of sizes, with
the largest being mostly used for military purposes such as the Predator
drone. The next in size are unmanned aircraft, which have fixed
wings and require short runways. These are generally used to cover large
sections of land, working in areas such as geographical surveying or to combat
wildlife poaching.
VTOL Drones
Next in size for drones are what is known as VTOL
drones. These are generally quadcopters but not all. VTOL drones can take
off, fly, hover and land vertically. The exact meaning of VTOL is “Vertical
Take-Off and Landing”.
Quite a few of the latest small UAV drones such as
the DJI Mavic Air 2 take VTOL to the next level and
can be launched from the palm of your hand.
Radar
Positioning & Return Home
The latest drones have dual Global Navigational
Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS and GLONASS.
Drones can fly in both GNSS and non satellite
modes. For example, DJI drones can fly in P-Mode (GPS & GLONASS) or
ATTI mode, which doesn’t use GPS.
Highly accurate drone navigation is very important
when flying, especially in drone applications such as creating 3D maps,
surveying landscape and SAR (Search & Rescue) missions.
When the quadcopter is first switched on, it
searches and detects GNSS satellites. High end GNSS systems use Satellite
Constellation technology. Basically, a satellite constellation is a
group of satellites working together giving coordinated
coverage and are synchronized, so that they overlap well in coverage. Pass or
coverage is the period in which a satellite is visible above the local horizon.
UAV Drone GNSS
On Ground Station Remote Controller
The radar technology will signal the following on
the remote controller display;
·
Signal that enough drone GNSS satellites have been
detected and the drone is ready to fly
·
Display the current position and location of
the drone in relation to the pilot
·
Record the home point for ‘Return To Home’ safety
feature
Most of the latest UAVs have 3 types of Return to
Home drone technology as follows;
·
Pilot initiated return to home by pressing button
on Remote Controller or in an app
·
A low battery level, where the UAV will fly
automatically back to the home point
·
Loss of contact between the UAV and Remote
Controller, with the UAV flying back automatically to its home point
The latest Mavic Air 2 technology
can sense obstacles during automatic return to home.
Obstacle
Detection And Collision Avoidance Technology
The latest high tech drones are now equipped with
collision avoidance systems. These use obstacle detection sensors to
scan the surroundings, while software algorithms and SLAM technology produce
the images into 3D maps allowing the drone to sense and avoid. These
systems fuse one or more of the following sensors to sense and avoid;
·
Vision Sensor
·
Ultrasonic
·
Infrared
·
Lidar
·
Time of Flight (ToF)
·
Monocular Vision
The DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2
Zoom have obstacle sensing on all 6 sides. The Mavic 2 uses
both Vision and Infrared sensors fused into a vision system known as
omni-directional Obstacle Sensing.
The DJI Mavic 2 obstacle sensing system is top
drone technology. The Mavic 2 will sense objects, then fly around
obstacles in front. It can do the same when flying backwards. Or hover if it is
not possible to fly around the obstacle.
This technology is known as APAS (Advanced Pilot
Assistance System) on the DJI Mavic 2 and Mavic Air drones.
In December 2019, the Skydio
2 drone was released. This also has obstacle avoidance on all
sides.
The Skydio 2 autonomy technology visualizes and
calculates what’s happening around the drone. It can then intelligently predict
what will happen next and will make accurate decisions multiple times a second.
The Skydio 2 quadcopter uses 6 x 4k cameras to
build a 3D map of its surroundings, which will include trees, people, animals,
cars, buildings and more.
Gyroscope
Stabilization, IMU And Flight Controllers
Gyro stabilization technology give the UAV drone
its smooth flight capabilities.
The gyroscope works almost instantly to the forces
moving against the drone, keeping it flying or hovering very smoothly.
The gyroscope provides essential navigational information to the central
flight controller.
The inertial measurement unit (IMU) works by
detecting the current rate of acceleration using one or
more accelerometers. The IMU detects changes in rotational attributes like
pitch, roll and yaw using one or more gyroscopes. Some IMU include
a magnetometer to assist with calibration against orientation drift.
The Gyroscope is a component of the IMU and the IMU
is an essential component of the drones flight controller. The flight controller
is the central brain of the drone.
Here is a terrific article, which covers gyro stabilization and IMU
technology in drones.
UAV Drone
Propulsion Technology
The propulsion system (motors, electronic speed
controllers and propellers) are the drone technology, which move the UAV into
the air and to fly in any direction or hover. On a quadcopter, the motors
and propellers work in pairs with 2 motors / propellers rotating clockwise (CW
Propellers) and 2 motors rotating Counter Clockwise (CCW Propellers).
They receive data from the flight controller and
the electronic speed controllers (ESC) on the drone motor direction to
either fly or hover.
Top UAV drone motors and propulsion systems are
highly advanced and include the following components;
·
Motor Stator
·
Motor Bell (rotor)
·
Windings
·
Bearings
·
Cooling System
·
Electronic Speed Controllers
·
ESC Updater
·
Propellers
·
