Outdoor performance

-
Today, I recorded some outdoor scenes. Agility was improved, I think I should try a double-flip....

Comments

  1. William,
    Great work here! The most stable Y-copter I have seen. Thanks for posting at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13217558#post13217558
    Cheers,
    Jim

    ReplyDelete

  2. Very nice job ! As I do own already 2 mikrokopters (1 for fun flight with no option and an other for aerial photo/video and FPV), I am ery interrested to your tricopter.

    Results are quite nice !

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Part 1/3: Side Force Generators (SFGs) in FPV Racing

-
Image
Summary: FPV racing multirotors with side force generators (SFGs), will drift less during turns, making them potentially faster on race tracks (watch the video comparison here). But the SFGs need the be carefully placed and dimensioned, so that aerodynamic centre and centre of mass are at the same position. Otherwise it will not work. 
Introduction Recently, I was thinking about how to improve the handling of racing copters. I noticed since quite a long time, that different copters behave quite differently in fast turns: Some drift quite a lot (especially when they carry a larger battery or an action cam), others drift less. I was always preferring copters that drift as little as  possible. That is also why I am trying to reduce the weight of my copters as much as feasible.
The amount of drift depends on the weight of the copter and the lift and drag of the fuselage for sideways air streams (side-slip). The larger the lift and drag, the more side force the fuselage produces at a given…
Read more

Part 2/3: Side force generators - Forces and turning

-
Image
About a month ago, I was presenting an idea to make drones faster on race tracks: The so called ‘side force generators’ (SFGs) enable racing drones to drift less during turns, making them potentially faster. The placement of the ‘wings’ is very critical and mentioned in more detail in my earlier post on SFGs. Some people tested the SFGs and confirmed the enhanced flight characteristics. Other people didn’t try and didn’t believe that SFGs could help. I must agree that the concept of the SFGs is not so easy to understand. That is why I will explain it in more detail here.



Let’s start with something that everyone knows (figure 1). When you are going through a fast turn with your car, then your car needs to provide two forces to stay on the track (grey line): The ‘thrust’ (green) of your car needs to equal its aerodynamic and friction drag (yellow). When the car turns, then there needs to be a constant force towards the centre of the turn, called ‘centripetal force’ (red). This force is …
Read more

TBS GEMiNi

-
Image
Letting the cat out of the bag  The TBS GEMiNi is a small hexrotor that is meant for fpv racing. The frame is based on my Shrediquette GEMiNi that I developed in spring 2013. Team Blacksheep (Trappy, Riscyd and Perna) contacted me a while ago, and we started to modify the design in order to improve it further and to make it more user and crash friendly. After some information had already leaked before the offical release (may it be on purpose or not... ;-D), the new TBS GEMiNi has now been officially announced on fpvlab.com. This means that you can very soon buy the GEMiNi multicopter!

Features of the TBS GEMiNiForward-tilting motors for efficient, high speed flightBuilt-in FPV camera (TBS ChipChip V2)Optional HD camera (Mobius Action Cam)CORE OSD/power supply with integrated current sensorReady for long range FPVCustom 4A ESCs with SimonK firmwareCustom T-motors4" propellersMotor distance: ca. 215 mm = 8.5" Taulabs Quanton-based flight controlCrash-friendly, yet integrated…
Read more

In-flight propulsion system test!

-
Image
Idea Ever wondered what propeller or what motor performs best for your needs? Here is a simple way to determine the performance of different propellers (or motors) directly in flight, using your multirotor, the blackbox and some math. In the past, a lot of static thrust tests have been done to determine the current, thrust and efficiency of multirotor propulsion systems. However, they don't tell you anything about the propeller or motor performance in fast forward flight. Aerodynamics in forward flight and with a non-uniform inflow of the air are very different from static measurements.
My questions were:
What propeller has the better acceleration?(acceleration performance of propellers is theoretically closely linked to the 'grip' during turns. Because turning is also just an acceleration, see this post)What propeller will reach the higher top speed? And which one decelerates better when throttle is cut?

Method My idea was to mount one kind of propellers on the left side…
Read more

Aerodynamics in racing multirotors! Part 2.

-
Image
Introduction In part 1 of this article on multirotor aerodynamics, some ideas on how to reduce the aerodynamic drag of racing multirotors was presented. I was also designing a tilted-body racing quadrotor called "Shrediquette DERBE". There were not yet any flow measurements of multirotors flying at high speeds. Therefore, I had to make quite a number of assumptions on the aerodynamics of a racing copter. This time, I am presenting some flow measurements, along with some potential optimizations for the next version of the "Shrediquette DERBE"
Methods Recently, I had the opportunity to do some flow visualizations in a large wind tunnel at the Bremen university of Applied Sciences / Dept. of biomimetics (which is the place where I worked one year ago). I brought the Shrediquette DERBE and mounted it inside the wind tunnel. Prior to the measurements, I did some tests to determine a realistic flight speed and the appropriate pitch angle.
The measurements were performed…
Read more