Is any work being done by the development team to add this class of vehicle to the capabilities of the APM or Pixhawk series of autopilots? The Arcturus design is very nice and looks like a very useful cross between Multi-rotor and normal aircraft designs.
here is a link to their site - http://arcturus-uav.com/index.html
dennis
Comments
While the quadshot seems like a great concept, it has two major drawbacks when compared with this configuration:
1. Limited forward speed due to slower pitch speed of props. Its virtually impossible to run steep pitch props for forward speed because they stall in hover. This can be overcome through use of variable pitch props
2. Decreased efficiency from running 4 motors continuously instead of a single prop in forward flight. While the four motors are usually run at low throttle, they consume more power than a single more powerful motor would
I think there will be a growing demand for VTOL drones with fixed wings for greater efficiency.
I like the concept of a tail-sitter plane combined with a quad-rotor. This type of air frame would have the fewest moving parts. Most drones only carry a camera payload so the fact that the aircraft changes orientation could be accounted for by a gimbal.
What became of the Quadshot by Transition Robotics?
The crossover point would be interesting. When going from Copter to airplane, you would have to pitch the nose way down to build speed. But as the airspeed climbs, the wings will start pushing the airplane down. Going from airplane to copter, you couldn't bring it to a full stop, you'd have to glide in, then turn on the lift motors. But when you do, the motors will fight the controls of the airplane. This is probably the least tricky transition.
I don't thing you could transition from copter to airplane completely cleanly with a switch. You'd have to start the thrust motor while still in copter mode. Build airspeed while the airframe is level, then switch to airplane mode.
i was thinking two apm's but haven't figured out how to transition from one to another? would that involve both apm's both controlling one or more motors for part of the flight (hover vs level flight)?
dennis
You right in that this layout may not be very efficient in terms of drag, but it has potential for higher forward speed combined with more efficient hover than a tiltrotor that utilizes fixed pitch props. Until we can make decent variable pitch props for this scale I don't see the tiltrotor configuration being very feasible where high speed is required. For slow applications tiltrotors are fine with FP props which I suppose you were referring to initially?
Yes, wind gusts can really upset these things in the VTOL phase. The larger the wing, and closer set the motors are, the worse they would be. I've seen a video of a model V-22, and there was a relatively minor gust of wind, came from behind, caught under the tail, and it flipped over right quick.
The other design I've seen that could work is a quad tilt-wing, with two wings, front and rear, motors on the very end of each of the short wings. Maybe less efficient in forward flight, but much more stable in the VTOL phase.
Whatch their video, at the end you'll see the front motor begin to spool up as it lands.... The prop smacks the ground upon landing - which is silly. An otherwise pretty awesome plane though.
The front two motors are too close to each other as well. It wouldn't take much wind to throw it off in hover.
I ended playing VTOLs with my friend Rob from flying wings a couple of years ago. We got them working and transitioning but it was a faff
This is what I would copy if trying again
Autonomous aircraft launching from an autonomous boat.
I also don't really see this as a great layout Monroe. Something like a P-38 with 3 tilt-rotors, the third being at the back of the central nacelle would be awesome! Either that or a quad like this with tilt-rotors. But I don't like the idea of just leaving lift motors freewheeling like that. Can't be good for efficiency.
Other related links for reference as needed: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/introducing-the-firefly6; http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-build-a-vtol-aircraft-ki...; http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/iquad-tilt-rotor-quadcopter-v2-...; http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/take-off-and-landing-with-vtol-...; http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/the-orange-hawk-tricopter-f...; http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/behold-part-of-the-future-flext...;
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