Drone Systems for Engineers
Drone Systems for Engineers
Definition of drones
  History of drones
  Classification of drones based on structure- Fixed wing structure, Lighter than air
     systems and Rotary-wing aircraft
     Application of drones
   Parts of Drone system
     System design, Mechanical design, hardware design
      software architecture
INTRODUCTION:
PARTS OF A DRONE
Props
D ensors/Gyros
   Transmitter
                                                                                                Motors
KEY PARTS
  From an engineer's view, the key parts of a drone system are the hardware, software, and
    mechanical elements;
and a perfect balance between the three provides a flawless system design.
HARDWARE
       Hardware is the electrical part of the drone system, which is eventually a PCBA (printed
       circuit board assembly).
       Hardware is a multilayer PCB that accommodates the SOC (system on a chip) and
       different
       components of the subsystems interconnected through copper traces (part of the PCB) or
       physical wires. Figure shows the PCBA assembled with SOC and subsystems on the top
       side (primary side).
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THE SOC
     In general, there are three distinguishable types of SOCs: SOCs built around
     mierocontroller, SOCs built around a microprocessor, and specialized SOCs designed for
     specitie applications that do not fit into the above two categories. SOC usually consume
     less power and have a lower cost than the multichip systems they replace.
RRT
inte
     Figure shows a typical SOC that integrate digital, analog, and mixed signal devices on a
     single chip. The device at the center of the SOC is the silicon, and some capacitors are
     distributed on the top side of the SOC. The bottom side of the SOC shows pins (called as
     balls in a ball grid array), which are soldered                       establish the
                                                       on toa   PCB   to
                                                                                           connection with
     the subsystems through PCB traces.
                                               4
  Subsystems
                                                           technologies rcquired in         a    system    to   fulfill the
  Subsystems       or      electrical   subsystems   are
                                                                                                                   of the
  intended usage of the system.                 Broadly speaking, subsystems fall into any                  one
                                                                                                      "communication
  following computer architectüre parts: input, output, storage,                                and
  devices.
  Input
                                                                             and remote control                         are
   A touch       panel, keyboard,        mouse, microphone, camera, sensors,
   some examples of input devices of a system.
   Output
                                                                                            of   output devices       of   a
Displays, speakers,               motors,    fans, and LEDs       are some     examples
   System.
Storage
Memory, flash, hard disk drive,                    optical drive,    secure     digital, and solid-state        drive   are
 Communication                 Devices
 Wired LAN (local area network), wireless LAN, mobile networks (3G, 4G, and LTE)
                                                     and USB       are some     examples of       the communication
    GPS (Global            Positioning System),
                                                        above may or may not be a part of a
    devices of    system. All of the subsystems listed
                       a
  Besides SOC, the camera module, wireless module (WiFi/3G/4G modules), memory.,
                                                          the basic required subsystems for a
    internal storage, sensors, and flight controllers are
     surveillance drone.
SOFTWARE
Application-specific componenis
MECHANICAL
    The mechanical system is basically the enclosures, form factor, or simple ID (industrial
    design) of the drone.
    The ID determines the exterior and appearance of the drone. The ID of the drone will
    usually have numerous mechanical parts in a complicated assembly with electrical parts
    interconnected through mechanical or thermal interconnects.
    The most popular drone, has a quadcopter built from an X-frame or H-frame with four
    servo motor/propeller units on each end with numerous other mechanical parts along with
    the PCBA enclosed in plastic.
    A drone with frame as a base includes propellers, motors, landing gear, body (usually
    PCBA, flight controllers, and motor drivers), and a battery.
HISTORY OF DRONES
    With the maturing and miniaturization of applicable technologies in the 1980s and 1990s,
    interest in UAVs grew U.S. military. In the 1990s, the U.S. DoD gave a contract to AAI
    Corporation along with Israeli company Malat. The U.S. Navy bought the AAl Pioneer
    UAV that AAI and Malat developed jointly. Many of these UAVs saw service in
    the 1991 Gulf War. UAVs demonstrated the possibility of cheaper, more capable fighting
    machines,    deployable   without    risk   to   aircrews.   Initial   generations   primarily
    involved surveillance aircraft, but some carried armaments, such as the General Atomics
    MQ-1 Predator, that launched AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles.
    CAPECON was a European Union project to develop UAVs, running fromI May 2002
    to 31 December 2005.
    As of 2012, the USAF employed 7,494 UAVs -             almost one in three USAF aircraf.
    The Central Intelligence Agency also operated UAVs. By 2013 at least 50 countries used
    UAVs. China, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey, and others designed and built their own
    varieties. The use of drones has continued to increase. Due to their wide proliferation, no
    comprehensive list of UAV systems exists.
    The development of smart technologies and improved electrical power systems led to a
    parallel increase in the use of drones for consumer and general aviation activities.
CLASSIFICATION
UAVs may be classificd ike any other aircraft, according to design configuration such as
      Some UAVs offer intermediate degrees of autonomy. for example, a vehicle that is
     remotely piloted in most contexts but having an autonomous return-to-base operation.
     Some aircraft types may optionally fly manned or as UAVs, which may include manned
     aircraft transformed into uncrewed or Optionally Piloted UAVs (OPVs).
     Based on the altitude, the following UAV classifications have been used at industry
     events such as Unmanned Systems forum:
     MALE (medium altitude, long endurance) up to 30,000 ft (9,000 m) and range over
     200km
HALE (high altitude, long endurance) over 30,000 ft (9,100 m) and indefinite range
TYPES OF DRONES
Drones can be categorized into the following six types based on their mission:
       Combat: Combat drones are used for attacking in the high-risk missions. They are also
       known as Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV).
They cary missiles for the missions. Combat drones are much like planes.
Logistics: Logistics drones are used for delivering goods or cargo. There is a number of famous
companies, such as Amazon and Domino's, which deliver goods and pizzas via drones. It is
easier to ship cargo with drones when there is a lot of traffic on the streets, or the route is not
easy to drive.
Civil: Civil drones are tor general usage, such as monitoring the agriculture fields, data
collection, and aerial photography. The following picture is of an aerial photography drone:
Reconnaissance:
These kinds of drones are also known as mission-control drones. A drone is assigned to do a task
and it does automatically, and usually returns to the base by itself, so they are used to get
information from the enemy on the battleficld. These kinds of drones are supposed to be small
and easy to hide. The following diagram is a reconnaissance drone for your reference, they may
vary depending on the usage:
Target and decoy:
These kinds of drones are like combat
the attack
                                         drones, but the difference is, the combat drone
           capabilities for the high-risk mission and the target and                     provides
ground and aerial gunnery with a target that simulates the               decoy drones provide the
                                                           missile or enemy aircrafts.
      Classify drones by   their wing types. There          are   three   types of drones depending       on   their
      wings or flying mechanism:
      Fixed wing:
      A fixed   wing drone has   a   rigid wing. They         look like    airplanes.    These types of      drones
      have a very good battery life,     as   they   use   only   one   motor   (or   less than the   multi-wing).
      They can fly at a high altitude.
                                                     10
     They   can
                  caity   more
                         weight because they can float on air for the wings. There are also
     some disadvantages          of fixed
                                  wing drones. They are
     knowledge of acrodynamics. They break a lot and trainingexpensive
                                                                         and require a good
                                                              is required to fly them.
     The launching of the drone is hard
                                        and the landing of these
     The most important                                            types of drones is difficult.
                         thing you should know about the fixed wing drones is they can only
     move forward. To change the directions
                                              to left or right, we need to create air
     from the wing.                                                                       pressure
ROTARY wING
     Single rotor: Single rotor drones are simply like helicopter. They are strong and thee
     propeller is designed in a way that it helps to both hover and change directions.
     Remember, the single rotor drones can only hover vertically in the air.
They are good with battery power as they consume less power than a multirotor.
The payload capacity of a single rotor is good. However, they are dificult to fly.
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        They   can
                     carry   more   weight because they         float
                                                          can           on   air for the
              disadvantages of fixcd wing drones. They are expensive wings.
        some                                                                               There   are   also
                                                                             and require a good
        knowledge of acrodynamics. T'hey brcak a lot and
                                                         training is required to fly them.
        The launching of the drone is hard
                                           and the landing of these
                                                                      types of drones is
        The most important
                            thing you should know about the fixed wing drones is they difficult
                                                                                           can only
        move forward. To
                          change the directions to left or right, we need to create air pressure
        from the wing.
ROTARY WING
   Single rotor: Single rotor drones are simply like helicopter. They are strong and the
     propeller is designed in a way that it helps to both hover and change directions.
     Remember, the single rotor drones can only hover vertically in the air.
They are good with battery power as they consume less power than a multirotor.
The payload capacity of a single rotor is good. However, they are dificult to ny.
                                                  11
     Multirotor: Multirotor drones
                                       arc the most
     classified depending on the                       common among the drones.
                                                                                         They are
                                  number of wings they have, such as
     or rotors),
                 quadcopter (four rotors), hexacopter (six rotors), and tricopter (three propellers
                                                                        octocopter (eight rotors).
      The   most common
                                       multirotor is the     quadcopter.
     The multirotors             are   casy   control. They are good with
                                              to
     off and      land                                                     payload delivery. They can take
                           vertically,     almost anywhere. The flight is more stable than the
     and the fixed                                                                             single rotor
                           wing.
     One    of   the
                         disadvantages of the           multirotor is power         consumption.       As   they have          a   number
    of motors, they             consume       a    lot of power.
                                                               12
 From   the name of   these types of drones, you
 name. The     ARF drones
                                                          can
                                                                imagine why they     are    called by   this
                            require a   lot of patience   to    assemble and bind   to   fly.   Just be calm
 while assembling.
Plastic
carbon Tber
  A propeller converts rotational motion into thrust in agreement with the Bernoulli's
   principle. Aircraft propellers are characterized by the size, pitch, nmumber of blades, and
   type of material. Carbon fiber propellers are more expensive than plastic ones and
   provide better performance. They are more rigid and produce less vibration when
   spinning.
I n addition, they are lighter and more durable during small crashes. However, as they are
   more rigid, the motor bearings support higher impacts during crashes.
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              Unmanned aerial vehicle
              Aircraft
                                       Computing
               body                          power
                                                                                                          Remote
                                                                                                          Control
              Energy
              supply                                              Com                                   (e.g.ground
                                                                 module                                   Control
                                                                                                         station)
                    Sensors                  Actuators                                                   Data link
FEATUREs
     Crewed and uncrewed aircraft of the
     physical components.             The main
                                                               same   type    generally      have recognizably similar
                    life
                                                       exceptions     are    the   cockpit   and environmental control
     system    or
                           support systems.
     Some UAVs
               carry   payloads (such as a camera) that weigh considerably less than an adult
     human,    and asresult, can be considerably smaller. Though they
                            a
                                                                      carry heavy payloads,
     weaponized military UAVs are lighter than their crewed
     armaments.                                               counterparts with comparable
  Control systems for UAVs                    are   often different than crewed craft. For
                                                                             remote human
    control, a camera and video link almost
                                               always replace the cockpit windows;
    transmitted digital commands
                                  replace physical                                    radio
    used on both crewed and uncrewed aircraft, with cockpit
                                                             controls. Autopilot software is
                                                                        varying      feature    sets.
PARTS OF BLOCK DIAGRAM
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       Position          and movement
                                      sensors         give information about the aircraft
       sensors            deal with                                                       state. Exteroceptive
                                            extermal    information like distance
       Exproprioceptive ones               correlatc internal and external states.    measurements, while
       Non-cooperative sensors are able to detect
       separation assurance and collision avoidance. targets autonomously                             so
                                                                                                           they    are used tor
       Degrees          otf
                      freedom (DOF) refers to both the
      DOF       implies 3-axis gyroscopes and                                  and quality of sensors on board: 6
                                                                             amount
      Actuators
      UAV actuators             include digital electronic
      motors) linked                                       speed controllers (which control                 the RPM of the
                        motors/engines and propellers, servomotors (for planes
                                to
                                                                                                            and    helicopters
      mostly), weapons,              payload actuators,       LEDs and       speakers.
      Software
      UAV software called the
                                flight stack or autopilot. The purpose of the flight stack is to
      obtain data from sensors, control
                                         motors to ensure UAV
      control and         mission                               stability, and facilitate ground
                                      planning communication.
     UAVs         real-time systems that require
                are
                                                                rapid response to changing sensor data. As a
     result,    UAVs rely on single-board
                                                          computers for their computational needs. Examples of
     such       single-board computers                    include Raspberry Pis,
     with    NavI0, PXFMini,                                                              Beagleboards,     etc.    shielded
                                  designed from scratch such as NuttX, preemptive-RT
                                          etc.    or
     Linux, Xenomai, Orocos-Robot Operating System or DDS-ROS 2.0.
APPLICATION OF DRONES
                                                             I5
   MILITARY
   Drones     in
                   military applications   arc   uscd for anti-aircraft target   practice, intelligence
   gathering and, more controversially, as        weapons platforms.
   INDUSTRIAL
   The integration of drones and loT (Internct of Things) lechnology has created nurnerous
   ndustral and enterprise usc cascs: drones working with on-ground 1OT sensor networks
   can heip agTicultural companies monitor land and crops, energy companies survey power
   mes and operational equipment, and insurance companies monitor properties for claims
   and/or policies.
    COMMERCIAL
    The commercial field is a growing development, where the largest, strongest, fastest, and
    most capable drones on the market are targeted toward the professional community. They
    are the types of machines that the movie industry puts to work and that commercial
    agencies use to inspect infrastructure.
    Some impressive self-piloted drones survey individual farmer's fields. Commercial
    drones are the smaller consumer products that make up just a tiny portion of the overall
    drone market. Look at the picture of commercial drone:
MECHANICAL DESIGN
                                              of mechanical parts in       drone ID. This is also the
     Figure    shows the   typical stack-up                            a
     cross-sectional view of the mechanical design of the drone, and the significance of each
     part is explained below. This stack-up may differ for drones in ditferent applications.
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    Propeller                           EnclosureTop                             Propeller
     Motor
                                           DB                                     Motor
                                          Air Gao
                                           X-Frame
     2. Propeller motor: This is a DC motor attached to the four cormers of the X-Frame.
     Power from the drone's clectrical system rotates the blades to provide thrust to the drone.
  3 . Enclosure top: A plastic or fiber mechanical enclosure of the drone protects the
     internal electrical and mechanical subsystems from the extermal disturbances. Enclosures
     also provide the aesthetic look for the drone as a product.
     4. X-frame: This is the vertebra of the drone. All of the other mechanical parts and
     subsystems of the drone are attached to the X-frame through different types of fasteners
     or ties. The X-frame is symmetrical by dimensions and weight on all sides to achieve a
     balanced flight of the drone. So the crOss-sectional view is symmetrical on axis.
     Enclosure bottom: A plastic or fiber mechanical enclosure of the drone protects the
     internal electrical and mechanical subsystems from the external disturbances. Enclosures
     also provide the aesthetic look for the drone as a product.
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                                                                                                        films and   sheets. it
 6.   Mylar:     A form of polyester resin used to make heat-resistant                      plastic
                                                                                                                               X-
                                                          conductive      layer of the     PCBA and the metallic
  acts   as an   insulation    layer between the
  frame.
                                                                                          the
                                                               of the electrical parts of
7 . MB         (motherboard): The PCBA of the system hosts all
                                                                      the same layer can
  system        soldered on to it. By modifying the PCBA shape,
        system.
                                                                                   is the camera
                                  lower-most part of the drone in this application
         12. Camera module: The                                             when drone fly high.
                                               a better field of view (FOV)
         module. Attached on the bottom to get
                                                                        SOC through the USB 3.1
                               accommodate ISPs and connect to the
         Most camera modules                                                                                        connect to
                                                                              camera sensor can          directly
         interface. If the SOC has         integrated ISPs, then the
                                               interfaces.
         the SOC with camera-specific
                                                          can't be accommodated in the single
         13. DB(daughterboard): If all of the ingredients
                                                             on the system to accommodate
         PCBA, then there can be several daughterboards                   connected through
          additional          Motherboards and daughterboards can be
                        ingredients.
          board-to-board interconnections or a            flex PCB interconnect.
          for an ID.
            14. FPC (flexible PCB): Generally used to connect one or more rigid PCBs in a complex
            system.
 sOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE
      Software is the driver (in          a
                                               way)   of   a
                                                               system. In other words, the hardware
      capabilities,       while the software          uses     the same, makes it run, and                   provides   the
     functionality.                                                                               provides      the desired
Two weeks is not a standard practice; it depends on the lead time of the parts used in the BOM.
The lead time of some special parts can be in terms of months. Any part added at the last minute
with a month-long lead time will hold the PCBA and system build until that part docks in the
factory.
1. Syed Omar Faruk Towaha, "Building Smart Drones with ESP8266 and Arduino: Build
    exciting drones by leveraging the capabilities of Arduino and ESP8266" Packt Publishing,
    2018
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