• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.46 no.9
• /
• pp.723-734
• /
• 2018

A structural weight estimation methodology for the multicopter design process is presented. In general, a multicopter is composed of an airframe, motors, propellers, battery and so on. Among these, the weight of motors, propellers and battery can be obtained from the weight trends with respect to design parameters. However, the structural weight is hard to be estimated due to the various configurations and design concepts of multicopters. Moreover, the airframe weights of most commercial multicopter products are not provided. Thus, an accurate airframe weight model is required for the reliable mutlcopter design process. Firstly, the standard configuration of multicopters is defined. Then, we proposed the structural weight estimation method using the number and diameter of propellers determined from the initial step of sizing process. Finally, we validated our suggested method using the commerical products.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.276-283
• /
• 2017

This paper presents position control of multicopter using nonlinear dynamic model inversion in singular perturbation. Multicopter dynamics are developed and separated into the fast time-scale variables, related with the inner-loop design, and the slow time-scale variables, related with the outer-loop design. The final design is evaluated in 6-DOF simulation. The results show accurate position tracking performance.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.78-85
• /
• 2022

Multicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are increasingly for cargo transportation to mountainous and island regions, image information acquisition in disaster areas, and emergency rescue transport. In order to successfully perform these tasks, the aircraft structure must be able to safely support the loads induced by flight conditions while ensuring the vibration and aeroelastic stability of the prop-rotor. This study introduced a structural analysis model of a 40kg payload multicopter with an engine-generator hybrid power system. The deformation and stress distribution are investigated depending on the load conditions. In addition, the vibration characteristics and aeroelastic stability of the prop-rotor were also presented to flight speed and aircraft pitch angle. The maximum thrust generated by the prop-rotor and the landing load applied to the multicopter under normal and emergency landing conditions were reviewed., It confirmed that the structure could support without failure. In addition, it confirmed that the damping characteristics of each primary locate in the constant region according to the aircraft's flight speed and the prop-rotors rotating speed.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.204-209
• /
• 2016

In this paper, an unmanned delivery service using drone was proposed and verified the feasibility. The multicopter has GPS for autopilot and a camera for remote control by human operator. The gripper for manipulation of delivery object was designed and evaluated. The multicopter flies to a given position automatically based on GPS, and approaches to the prepared delivery desk by remote control of human operator using the received image from the multicopter. GPS sensor verification and experimental PID tuning were performed to ensure the flight stability. The flight tests were carried out to verify the feasibility of delivery service.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.99-104
• /
• 2021

The characteristics of wind sensors were experimentally analyzed and compared for purposes of application in multicopter type drones. For rotating wind sensors, the dynamics effect causes measurement errors, while manufacturing errors and signal processing errors were found to constitute significant errors in ultrasonic sensors. In the ultrasonic sensor, the errors decrease as the distance of the transducer increases. These characteristics were experimentally confirmed, and it was established that ultrasonic sensors capable of outputting voltage or data of 10 Hz or more are suitable for use in multicopters.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.20-27
• /
• 2017

The present paper describes the flow analysis of the flows around the multicopter for the selection of optimal position of air data sensor. For the flow analysis, the commercial fluid dynamics solver, STAR-CCM+ was used with polygon mesh and k-w SST turbulence modeling options. For the simulation of each rotating 4 propellers, unstructured overset mesh method was used. Hovering, forward flight, ascending and descending flight conditions are selected for the analysis and airspeed and flow angle errors were investigated using the CFD results. Through the flow field analysis, sensor location above one propeller diameter distance from the propeller rotating plane showed airspeed error less than 1m/s within the typical flight conditions of multicopter except descending.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.28-39
• /
• 2022

With the development of small multicopter PAV (Personal Air Vehicle), it is necessary to develop safety-related devices for manned rotorcraft. In this study, we assumed that an external airbag can be installed in a small multicopter PAV, and using LS-DYNA's Airbag Folding Application, we performed a free-fall collision analysis by modeling the airbag shapes consisting or Roll, Zigzag, and Sigma. There was no significant difference in the final airbag deployment time of the three models. However, when it collides with the ground during deployment, the Sigma fold type external airbag had the fastest deployment speed, applying the most impact force to the PAV, while the Roll fold type external airbag applied the smallest impact force to the PAV.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.81-86
• /
• 2016

In this paper, we propose a simple and effective vision-based tracking controller design for autonomous object tracking using multicopter. The multicopter based automatic tracking system usually unstable when the object moved so the tracking process can't define the object position location exactly that means when the object moves, the system can't track object suddenly along to the direction of objects movement. The system will always looking for the object from the first point or its home position. In this paper, PID control used to improve the stability of tracking system, so that the result object tracking became more stable than before, it can be seen from error of tracking. A computer vision and control strategy is applied to detect a diverse set of moving objects on Raspberry Pi based platform and Software defined PID controller design to control Yaw, Throttle, Pitch of the multicopter in real time. Finally based series of experiment results and concluded that the PID control make the tracking system become more stable in real time.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.45 no.7
• /
• pp.581-593
• /
• 2017

In order to develop high efficiency propeller for multicopter type UAV, we designed, analyzed and tested aerodynamic and structural dynamics. For the design of the high efficiency propeller, the optimum design method was applied for the determination of the airfoil and the three-dimensional planform is designed to reduce induced power of the propeller. The flight suitability of the derived shape was determined through structural design and analysis. The rotation test was performed to confirm the performance of the analytically designed shape. In this paper, we propose a procedural propeller design methodology using these design analysis test methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.437-446
• /
• 2017

An integrated flight simulation program for multicopter drones is presented. The program includes rigid body dynamics, propeller thrust, battery energy, control, and air. Using this program, users can monitor and analyze the states of drones along flight trajectories. As a programming language, Modelica has been chosen, that specializes in simulation program development. Modelica enables users to develop simulation programs efficiently due to acausal and object oriented properties. For missions including horizontal and vertical maneuvers, many dynamical states of drones have been analyzed with simulation results.