Flying on the Edge of Drone Development: Investigation into Contemporary Multicopter Design

Abstract

From man’s first achievements in flight, aeroplanes and helicopters, society now faces the advent of drones in everyday life. Being developed for an increasingly growing audience and purposes, the field of remote controlled, and even autonomous copters, is becoming highly magnified and developed. In my thesis I outline many of the technologies that are necessary for making multicopters fly, and discuss my own designs and developments.

My motivation for undertaking this research stemmed from my inherent interest in radio-control based multicopters, and the every increasing developments being made into their design and technology. These developments have come about due to significant advances in technology. I research and develop solutions, trying to fill gaps where there are no products available to serve all my needs, or to address simple design flaws that could be improved or expanded upon.

There are products available which do not have all the qualities that I desire in a multicopter. In my opinion the unique features some of these designs incorporate are not implemented very effectively or to their fullest potential. I addressed this problem by experimenting and iterating on established designs. I first approached this by mimicking and combining other designs with traits I preferred. Taking these features into consideration, I altered the parts to best integrate all the different features into a craft that would suit my needs. After developing digital models, I would build a new prototype from scratch, taking original ideas and using the skills and techniques learnt during the previous designs to implement them.

During my research into multicopter frames, I have built a number of frames based on common layouts. In specific areas of each craft I have improved upon existing ideas, or implemented new ones to better equip the craft for the purpose they are intended for. I have also created a completely new craft that utilizes features in ways not yet seen before in multicopters. I have expanded on my own cutting edge designs and have proposed future frames that incorporate these and more new ideas.

My work shows that multicopter design is a very purpose-specific driven field and tends to be rather subjective, depending on the users requirements. It is a field that still has a lot of potential for future design development and variety. I believe that the developments we have seen in multicopter design to date only scratches the surface of what might be possible in the future with new and radical ideas yet to be realised.