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ArduVTOL - Wingcopter - Flight Report Nr. 2

Posted by Jonathan Hesselbarth on July 5, 2013 at 11:30am

It´s been two months since we posted our first flight report; time for an update!

Here's what we've been up to:

As you may have seen on Chris Anderson's Blog, our Wingcopter now uses the APM2.5. The agility and stability seems much better compared to the old APM1.0.

Above is a video of one of the longer flights, including some maneuvers:

When there´s no wind, the wingcopter performs just as expected/commanded. However, in turbulent air the flap's control commands are still slightly too extreme. It wobbles a little bit. In order to solve this problem, we'll have to play with our PID Parameters again.

In last report's comment section, there where some question concerning flight maneuvers. As a result, we tried out to tail sitting and landing as a conventional plan.

Tail sitting is possible, but it´s not as easy as we initially thought it would be.

We tried to land in "conventional plane mode" at the end of this video

 

and this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SyScUKdqH8

slightly harder landing than intended ;)

We also tested the maximum payload. After a couple of increases, we tried a 636g beer bottle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCZO6b1MROc

At this level of payload, the plane is harder to control, especially if there's a certain amount of wind (like in the video). So far, we would prefer up to 400g of payload, as the plane's behavior changes very little compared to flights without any payload.

We hope your enjoyed our little report.

Regards

Andy and Jonathan

PS: our wingcopter is now available on our website!

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Comments

  • Amit January 30, 2015 at 2:18am

    http://www.google.com/patents/EP2247500B1?cl=en

  • Amit January 30, 2015 at 1:52am

    Thanks for the graphs.

    So its seems that it uses 1/3 consumption than in the hovering position. 

     Great job  IoI.

    What it the flight speed?

    I think that http://www.vtol-technologies.com/flying-wing.html have patented this VTOL.

    I also found the link https://www.advancedtacticsinc.com/technology/barracuda/ which looks similar.

    What is the difference between you design?

    VTOL Technologies | RPAS | BVLOS
    VTOL Technologies, delivering a revolutionary concept in RPAS with BVLOS capabilities.
  • Jonathan Hesselbarth January 29, 2015 at 8:01am

    Hi! WingCo%20V13CH%20(5).png

    Above you see the current draw (red) and the throttle position (blue) by 3S voltage and 2.4kg take-off weight. It is an old measurement of one of the first prototypes which lot of potential to optimize. The newest version called Songbird (link) with 3m wingspan, 8kg take-off weight and 6S lipo for example has much better current characteristic in forward flight.

    Forward flight is controlled by flaps and dependent on the code setup also by motors. We have there now an own FC which just use the Pixhawk in ff for waypoint navigation.

    @Raymond: The V13CH carry up to 1kg payload. Flight time is around 20min. The Songbird is there much better. It stays up one hour with one kg payload. Theoretical, full with batteries, it should stay up even more than 3 hours.

  • Amit January 23, 2015 at 3:59am
    What is the throttle percentage during horizontal straight and level flight?
    And how much during hovering?
  • Amit January 23, 2015 at 3:56am
    How do you control it in horizontal flight?
    Only with the motor?
    Did you published the code?
  • Raymond Tang June 1, 2014 at 4:37pm

    What kind of payload can the wingcopter hold? Would changing the motors/props help?Whats the flight time?

  • Giovanni Paul Tello July 7, 2013 at 12:54pm

    What a platform!!!!! Great work!!! 

  • Szabó József July 7, 2013 at 8:46am

    I congratulate, very good work.

  • Bob July 7, 2013 at 3:14am

    Is it possible to get the code you are using ? It would be greatly appreciated 

  • Jonathan Hesselbarth July 5, 2013 at 5:30pm

    Hi! We are using a changed Arducopter version. Like you supposed the props are controlled during forward flight too. Theoretical it should be possible to fly the wingcopter in plane mode less the flaps.

This reply was deleted.