Scout by Datron / Aeryon Labs gained notoriety for being used by Libyan rebels for 24/7 surveillance
Napoleon said that every soldier carries a marshal's baton in his knapsack. In the near future, at least one soldier in each platoon may well carry a small aircraft in his backpack that can take off and land vertically and provide an image from behind a nearby hill and even more, many more
Renowned for its technological advancements, Darpa's Advanced Research and Development Authority is using "mass outsourcing" to bring the discreet reconnaissance drone to a wide range of "communities outside of the traditional DOD procurement process."
Back in May 2011, Darpa, working with the Navy's Atlantic (SSC-Atlantic) Space and Naval Systems Center, announced a competition program for the UAVForge unmanned aerial vehicle. The task was to create "an intuitive, backpack-carrying UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), which could quietly fly into and out of critical space with the aim of conducting constant surveillance for up to three hours."
ARPA has been hosting an open UAVForge event for about a year. The main idea: to build a practical demonstrator of a mini-UAV, suitable for transportation by one person and capable of more or less autonomously performing simple tasks. The key feature is the use of fashionable “crowdsourcing”, when a large group of people who have expressed a desire to take part in the project are directly involved in evaluating ideas and shaping development directions using the Internet.
In the summer of 2012, the final test included a flight en route to a given area outside the operator's line of sight, filming (with broadcast) from a given point, and returning back. A more detailed description is available on the website. The result is as follows: none of the participating teams managed to fulfill the requirements of the final test, no one won the main prize, although all the leading teams made several attempts.
How many screws (rotors)?
A single rotor (or two coaxial rotors) has the disadvantage that altitude control (and thus translational speed) requires a cyclic change in pitch or downward deflection of the air flow. Conversely, a four-rotor arrangement is easy to control by varying the power supplied to the motors; the front and rear propellers turn to control the pitch, and the left and right propellers to control the roll.
The yaw control (deviation from the direction of travel) for the four propellers is somewhat more complicated. If, for example, two pitch propellers turn clockwise and two heel propellers turn counterclockwise, then yaw moment can be created by applying more power to the pitch pair and less power to the heeling pair, or vice versa. In order to obtain longitudinal stability, a tail unit can be added.
The Dragonfly drone for urban conditions produced by the French company Sagem is based on the Novadem NX110m; was first shown at Eurosatory 2010. Unlike most quadcopters, it has sensors inside the body
AR100-B from the German Airrobot has a maximum take-off weight of 900 grams and a diameter of 102 cm. The flight duration is more than 25 minutes, the device can operate at wind speeds up to 25 km / h
The 2kg Tarkus from WB Electronics is designed to support special forces in urban operations, including its use inside buildings. The development was funded by the Polish Ministry of Defense
During the early days of manned vertical takeoff and landing craft (1950s and 1960s), there were claims that lift could be significantly increased by the use of “bell” flanges around the air intakes, the drawn in air flow creates suction on these curved surfaces. However, full-scale field tests have shown a smaller increase in lift compared to laboratory tests.
However, the lift of the propellers is increased from the surrounding fairings, which can also reduce noise and provide protection for the propellers (and that they will hit) in the event of an impact. They can protect avionics and avionics from the weather. On the other hand, fairings add mass, impair portability and make avionics more difficult to access.
The quadrocopter (four-rotor vertical take-off vehicle) is neutral or unstable during pitch and roll, therefore it requires an inertial measurement unit with accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure rectilinear and angular motion and provide direction and position indications in the air. Satellite signals (usually GPS) provide more accurate navigation over a long period of time.
Other aviation equipment usually includes an altimeter and a communication channel for receiving navigation and targeting commands and transmitting images.
Quadrocopters dominate the small vertical takeoff and landing drone category. However, with quadcopter manufacturers facing the need for more payloads, it seems inevitable that they will be more likely to improve designs by switching to six-rotor designs rather than developing larger quadcopters.
The eight-rotor, eight-motor configuration (with 4 or 8 rotation axes) takes the concept one step further and offers a useful degree of redundancy. The full-scale manned counterpart in 1965 was the Dassault Mirage IIIV with eight lift engines - the only vertical take-off combat aircraft that was able to survive an engine breakdown while hovering.
Although designed for civilian use, the Parrot AR Drone can find military applications in drone operator training. The picture shows the device without a protective cover for outdoor use.
The Asio vertical take-off and landing drone from Selex Galileo, with its own weight of 6.5 kg, in an annular fairing complete with a ground control system and weighs less than 20 kg with its knapsack. Stabilized sensor module can be mounted above or below the rotor
Europe
Since America and Israel have formed a kind of duopoly in the market for large UAVs, Europe has good reasons to develop small models for the individual soldier.
In 2005, the European Defense Agency launched the 4 million Euro Mavdem (Miniature Air Vehicle Demonstration) program, which aims to provide a base for a backpack drone with a wingspan of less than 50 cm, a flight duration of 30 minutes and a cruising speed of 20 m / s. …
A large number of possible configurations were considered and in 2007 a contract was awarded for a quadcopter proposed by a multinational consortium including France's Onera (with Alcore Technologies as a subcontractor), Italy's Oto Melara, Spain's Sener and Norway's Tellmie. Three vehicles were built, which passed preliminary flight tests in Spain in the first half of 2008, followed by final tests in Norway a few months later.
Interestingly, the second contender for the Mavdem was a conventional helicopter configuration with a low-drag fuselage and a sensor unit between two coaxial propellers.
Several microdron competitions have been held targeting the world's leading academic centers. One of such centers of excellence is the French national center for civil aviation Enac (Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile), which has outstanding results in this kind of competition. Among the achievements of the Enac center: winning the competition for the European microdron Emav (European Micro Aerial Vehicle) in Braunschweig in 2004, the French Challenge DGA (Delegation Generale pour l'Armement) in 2009 and the Imav (International Micro Air Vehicle) competition in Braunschweig in 2010 year.
One of the keys to Enac's success has been the Paparazzi electronic flight control system. The system has been applied to a variety of fixed-wing or rotary-wing drones, including Thales' Spy'Arrow. For Imav 2010, the Enac system was used in a Blender quadcopter with a wingspan of 32cm and a weight of 330 grams.
At Eurosatory 2010, Sagem has unveiled a new urban combat quadcopter called the Dragonfly, based on the NovademNX110m.
At Eurosatory 2014, Thales unveiled its new VTOL UAV called the Infotron IT180.
Paris-based company Parrot, best known for its AR Drone, brought quadcopters to the masses. Priced at roughly $ 500, the AR Drone is wirelessly controlled via Wi-Fi from Apple iPhone or iPod Touch handheld devices and streams video from its cameras to displays.
The Parrot AR Drone weighs 400 grams with its (for indoor use) protective casing, which forms a square with a side of 52 cm. It runs on a Linux-based operating system, has a 486 MHz processor, built-in control, an ultrasonic altimeter, a three-axis accelerometer, a two-axis pitch horoscope / roll and a six-axis course horoscope. It is powered by three 11, 1 Volt and 1000 mAh lithium polymer batteries. Four 15 Watt motors accelerate the propellers to 3500 rpm. The flight duration is 15 minutes, the maximum speed is 18 km / h, while the UAV cannot fly with strong air movement (wind).
Recharging the batteries without human intervention can make round-trip cycling easier. Ibis UAV from Oto Melara is charged by Praetor ground robot of the same company
In August 2013, Israel Aerospace Industries showed off its 4 kg Ghost minidron with tandem propellers. Externally similar to the miniature Chinook, the Ghost has a flight duration of 30 minutes and a top speed of 65 km / h.
One of the most exciting drone developments is Aerovironment's Hummingbird nanodron, funded by Darpa; weighs only 19 grams with a camcorder
One of the leaders in Germany in this area is Ascending Technologies (Asctec). A drone from Asctec was used as a platform by Enac in the 2009 DGA Challenge, Asctec Pelican drones are used in the US Army Mast program and Asctec Hummingbird is used at the ETH (Federal Technical Academy) in Zurich. Asctec attributes its success to the stability provided by the high refresh rate (1000 Hz) of its inertial measurement unit and to the application-optimized electronic components developed by Asctec itself.
At the top of Asctec's quadcopter lineup is the 5195 Euro Pelican, measuring 50 x 50 cm, weighing 750 grams, with an 11, 1 volt and 6000 mAh lithium polymer battery that provides flight times of 15 to 25 minutes. Specialized in photography, the GPS-controlled Asctec Falcon 8, which costs 10,499 euros, has eight rotors arranged in a V-shape around the camera, which allows it to fly in the opposite direction by changing the pitch angle without turning. Falcon 8 can operate in winds up to 10 m / s.
Other German models include Diehl BGT Defense's 900-gram Sensocopter and Airrobot's AR100-Band and the Microdrone md4 series, the heaviest of which weighs 5.55 kg, the md4-1000. Rheinmetall Kolibri 60 weighing 1.6 kg is designed specifically for the potential military market. EMT Penzberg Fancopter weighing 1.5 kg is unusual in that it has two coaxial propellers.
Italy has retained the traditional helicopter scheme in the Ibis UAV from Oto Melara weighing 14 kg. It can recharge its battery when boarding the Praetor UGV (automatic ground vehicle) of the same company. The 6.5 kg Asio and the 2 kg Spyball from Selex Galileo are virtually unique in that they are electrically driven vertical take-off vehicles in an annular fairing.
The Polish 2.0 kg Tarkus from WB Electronics is being developed for special operations in urban areas. At the Idef 2011 exhibition, the Turkish company Atlantis UVS showed its Aero Seeker AES-405 quadrocopter. It is reported that the 12 kg Malazgirt mini-helicopter from Baykar-Makina is already in service.
In August 2011, Insitu announced its 1, 1kg Inceptor drone at the Air Law Enforcement Conference in New Orleans. It costs about $ 50,000, which is the same as a regular patrol police car.
For the first time in the international arena at the AUVSI 2011 conference in Washington, the Chinese 1.5-kg drone Shenzhen from AEE Technology F50 debuted, which has a flight duration of 30 minutes and a maximum speed of 100 km / h
Pictured here is the result of four years of research under the Darpa's Stealthy Continuous Surveillance (SP2S) program. UAV Shrike from Aerovironment weighing 2, 27 kg is able to hover for 40 minutes or shoot several hours of video
USA
Under the Darpa control program called Nav (Nano Air Vehicle), Aerovironment has developed miniature drones that can hover and fly using wing flaps for lift, propulsion and flight control. The truly remarkable Aerovironment Hummingbird weighs only 19 grams with camcorder and transmitter / receiver.
The US Army Lab leads the Mast (Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology) consortium to develop platforms and avionics for UAVs that could land and monitor, install sensors on the ground, and search buildings and caves for people and explosives.
Boeing's Insitu recently unveiled the 1.1kg Inceptor, which is a traditional helicopter with a flight duration of 20 minutes and a top speed of 55 km / h.
Perhaps the most famous quadcopter in the Americas is the 1.7kg Scout from Datron / Aeryon Labs, which competed in the maritime portion of the 2011 Empire Challenge in North Carolina. Currently, this advanced design features easily interchangeable snap-on components and composite propeller blades, and recently this drone has made all the headlines (see first photo). Scout was also used by Libyan rebels in their fight against the Gaddafi regime.
Tialinx specializes in the development of multi-rotor drones with ultra-wideband miniature radars, its products include the six-rotor Phoenix40-A and the eight-rotor (four axles) Phoenix50-H, both weighing less than 4.5 kg.
In July 2011, the American Advanced Research Projects Agency IARPA announced a conference of applicants for the Great Horned Owl (GHO) program. The goal of this program is to develop quiet drones with longer flight times than smaller systems with battery packs.
The rest of the world
Small vertical take-off drones are developed in a wide variety of countries: Brazil has a 1.5kg Gyrofly Gyro 500, Canada has Draganfly Innovations Draganflyer series, China has Dragonfly from China Electronic Trading, Israel 4.0kg Ghost 44 from IAI, Russia 1, A 5kg six-rotor Zala Aero 421-21, and Taiwan has a 1.45kg six-rotor Gang Yu AI Rider. Technological Research Institute of the Japanese Ministry of Defense is working on a "flying ball" (rotors in a housing).
The Israelis have been most successful in creating military UAVs of various types, from surveillance drones to attack drones. Israeli attack drone programs have sufficient government and financial support. Simon Ostrovski, a reporter for the international Internet portal VICE.com, visited an Israeli airbase, where the latest locally developed UAVs are being tested …
Perhaps worthy of attention from the entire range of drones of the "rest of the world" is the Canadian Draganflyer series, of which 8000 units have been sold worldwide. After the four-rotor X4 weighing 980 grams and the six-rotor (on three axles) X6 weighing 1.5 kg, at the top of the model range is the 2.7 kg Draganflyer X8, which has a carrying capacity of one kilogram, it has a battery of 14.8 volts and 5200 mAh, driven by eight motors, eight rotors (on 4 axes).
A drone that can quietly hover and stare out the Oval Office window for an hour, and which is monitored out of line of sight, is still a matter of the future. Ultimately, however, anyone can have a drone that takes off vertically, monitors altitude with a simple barometric altimeter, and carries the camera along a multi-point route determined by GPS. Such UAVs are offered not only in ordinary stores, but already on the Internet at quite reasonable prices. Just check with your country's flying regulations!
