This Saturday at DronesLab we achieved an important milestone in the final steps towards the public release of the DeltaQuad: A 100KM autonomous mission carrying a 1KG payload. This marks the achievement of the most important goal we have set when we started the development of this vehicle over a year ago.
The DeltaQuad is an electric VTOL flying wing capable of fully autonomous operation. It is driven by either the PX4 or AirRails flightstack in combination with proprietary safety and performance software. It is controlled through a tablet and streams telemetry (and optionally video) over an encrypted VPN using the cellular network. Most notably it flies without the need for an airspeed sensor. This improves reliability, usability and performance.
After extensive testing and hundreds of flight hours we knew it could achieve this goal in theory. But as with any theory it needed to withstand the test of reality. So we we started preparing for a mission that would do just that.
The mission
The mission was flown in a square pattern. It was setup to autonomously take off vertically to an altitude of 22m, complete 20 laps on a 5km circuit at an altitude of 30m, and land vertically near it's takeoff point. It cruised at approximately 15m/s. The mission took 1 hour and 50 minutes to complete. It was outfitted with a 23Ah 4s lipo and consumed 20.7A of which 19.3 was used for fixed wing flight and 1.4 for vertical takeoff and land.
The payload consisted of a 1KG box filled with dummy weight. The total distance was confirmed through a KML export of the mission loaded in google earth as you can see in the image above.
The full log of the mission can be found here: http://logs.uaventure.com/view/QEofXUiC5dwm9zh7B3vXgk
Whats next
The DeltaQuad will be publicly available this summer under a new label that we will soon announce together with the full specs and pricing. Additional options and modules will be released shortly after that. Although we can not yet release any more details we are confident that it will be one of the most reliable, scalable and affordable VTOL UAV's that is suitable for commercial applications.
** Update **
The DeltaQuad has been publicly released. Visit https://www.verticaltechnologies.com to find out all the details.
Comments
Congratulations Sander. Great build!!
Do you have the flight video? I would love to see your VTOL X8 on flight :-D
There is usually a big difference in LiPo cell quality and weight. You would not want your vehicle becoming damaged due to LiPo failure. We therefor choose only the best LiPo quality with extended warranty and proven track record.
We do indicate options for mounting your own LiPo: https://www.verticaltechnologies.com/info/powering-the-deltaquad
What 23Ah 4S lipo where you referring to?
I'm curious as to why this needs a $700 Lipo pack when a similar pack can be had for $145. Granted the C rating is less but does this thing really need to pull more than 200 amps to run?
Congratulations!!!That's really amazing!
The DeltaQuad flies on custom motors specifically designed for efficiency. Unlike regular fixed wing vehicles it does not require a motor strong enough for a runway takeoff or hand-launch as it does it's forward transition in the air.
A DeltaQuad averages around 140-150 watt during cruise. The vtol props have very little impact on the vehicle.
Looks like you've achieved some nice cruise efficiency even with the lifting props, fine work indeed. I'm guessing the wing extensions help there. What amps is normal cruise at? 4s? Congrats on getting it all working together and tuned so well.
To expand, here you can read about the materials used in the fuse: https://www.verticaltechnologies.com/info/customization-features
@Nikola Rabchevsky: EPO
What's the fuselage made of?
Nice work Sanders, good luck!! :) ; I agree with Darrell too.
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