PUNE VIDYARTHI GRIHAs

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,

PUNE 411 009.

SEMINAR REPORT
ON

CONTROL AND WORKING

PRINCIPLES OF A QUADCOPTER

SUBMITTED BY:
Shreyas Rajeev Nikte
Class: T.E. ELECTRICAL
Roll No. : 20
Year: 2015-2016

GUIDED BY:

Prof. U.B. SARODE

Department of Electrical Engineering,

 PVGs COET, Pune.

PUNE VIDYARTHI GRIHAs

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,
PUNE 411 009

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the following student, studying in T. E. (Electrical) and having
respective exam number, have satisfactorily completed the work for the Seminar Report
under my guidance, in the following topic:
CONTROL AND WORKING PRINCIPLES
OF A QUADCOPTER
The report is submitted as a partial fulfilment of the requirement of the Under Graduate
degree course in Electrical Engineering, University of Pune, during the academic year 2015-
2016.

Guide By:

Prof. U.B. Sarode Prof. Dr. Mrs. G. A. Vaidya

Dept. of Electrical Engg. Head of the Department,

PVGs COET, Pune-09. Dept. of Electrical Engg,

PVGs COET, Pune-09.

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to place on record my deep sense of gratitude to Prof. U.B. Sarode sir
dept. of electrical engineering PVGS COET, PUNE, for his generous guidance, help and
useful suggestions. I express my sincere gratitude to Prof G,A. Vaidya ,professor and Head of
department of Electrical Engineering of PVGS COET.PUNE for their stimulating guidance
and continuous encouragement throughout the course of present work.

I also wish to extend my thanks to faculty members of Department of Electrical

Engineering and my colleagues for attending my seminar and for their insightful comments
and constructive suggestions to improve the quality of this dissertation work.

I am extremely Thankful to Prof. Y.P. Nerkar for providing me infrastructural

facilities to work in, without which this work would not have been possible.

I am also grateful to my all family members for their constant encouragement, extended
Co-operation and help.
INDEX

1. Background...... 1
1.1. The quadcopter.......2
2. Construction .....3
2.1. Mechanics..3
2.2. Electronics.3
3. Controlling types of quadcopter...4
4. Basic working of a quadcopter.....5
5. Components .6
5.1. Flight Controller Board.6
5.2. Motors ......6
5.3. Electronic Speed Controller (ESC)...9
5.4. Sensors.....10
6. Control techniques for a quadcopter...11
6.1. Hovering condition.12
6.2. Up and down movement condition.13
6.3. Yaw rotation condition...14
6.4. Roll rotation condition....15
6.5. Pitch rotation condition..17
7. Controlling Roll, Pitch and Yaw rates and Thrust.19
7.1. Need of control system...19
7.2. Need of integration of gyroscope and accelerometer..20
8. Advantages and disadvantages.......................22
9. Conclusion..23
10. References .24
 1. INTRODUCTION

The aerospace community, particularly in academia, has seen a recent rise in the popularity of
fixed-pitch quadrotor helicopters. The fixed-pitch quadrotor is popular largely because of its
mechanical simplicity relative to other hovering aircraft. This simplicity, however, places
fundamental limits on the achievable actuator bandwidth and the types of manoeuvres
possible to fly.

The scientific challenge in MAV (Micro Aerial Vehicle) design and control in cluttered
environments and the lack of existing solutions was very motivating. On the other hand, the
broad field of applications in both military and civilian markets was encouraging the funding
of MAV related projects. Several thesis were conducted on localization, navigation, obstacle
avoidance etc. The limitations of ground-based robots in rough terrain and the recent progress
in micro technology pushed us towards developing new mobility concepts. This includes
flying systems on which one could apply the techniques already developed on ground-based
robots.

However, the task is not trivial due to several open challenges. In the field of sensing
technologies, industry can currently provide a new generation of integrated micro Inertial
Measurement Unit (IMU) composed generally of Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems
(MEMS) technology inertial and magneto-resistive sensors. The latest technology in high
density power storage offers about 190Wh/kg which is a real jump ahead especially for micro
aerial robotics. This technology was originally developed for hand-held applications and is
now widely used in aerial robotics. The cost and size reduction of such systems makes it very
interesting for the civilian market.

1
Simultaneously, this reduction of cost and size implies performance limitation and thus a
more challenging control. Moreover, the miniaturization of inertial sensors imposes the use of
MEMS technology, which is still much less accurate than the conventional sensors because of
noise and drift. The use of low-cost IMUs is synonym of less efficient data processing and
thus a bad orientation data prediction in addition to a weak drift rejection. On the other hand,
and in spite of the latest progress in miniature actuators, the scaling laws are still
unfavourable and one has to face the problem of actuator saturation. That is to say, even
though the design of micro aerial robots is possible, the control is still a challenging goal.

The mechanical simplicity and robustness of fixed-pitch, multi-rotor vehicle designs,

however, places fundamental limitations on the achievable flight performance of the vehicle.
With fixed-pitch propellers and commonly utilized brushless motors and electronic speed
controllers (ESCs), thrust can only be generated in one direction, thus preventing the multi-
rotor vehicle from generating upward thrust (with respect to the vehicle body). Also, the
attainable control bandwidth with fixed-pitch propellers is limited by the inertia of the motors
and propellers. These limitations restrict the aggressive and aerobatic manoeuvres a multi-
rotor helicopter can perform, therefore limiting the future applicability of multi-rotor
helicopters in agile intensive missions.
It was decided from the beginning of this report to work on a particular configuration: the
quadrotor. The interest comes not only from its dynamics, which represent an attractive
control problem, but also from the design issue. Integrating the sensors, actuators and
intelligence into a lightweight vertically flying system with a decent operation time is not
trivial.

1.1. The Quadcopter

A multicopter becomes a UAV or Drone when it is capable of autonomous flight. Normally

this means taking the accelerometer and gyro information and combining it with barometer
and GPS data so the flight controller understands not only its orientation but also its
position.

A quadcopter, also called a quadrotor helicopter or quadrotor, is a multirotor helicopter that is

lifted and propelled by four rotors. Quadcopters are classified as rotorcraft, as opposed to
fixed-wing aircraft, because their lift is generated by a set of rotors (vertically oriented
propellers).
Unlike most helicopters, quadcopters use two sets of identical fixed pitched propellers; two
clockwise (CW) and two counter-clockwise (CCW). These use variation of RPM to control
lift and torque. Control of vehicle motion is achieved by altering the rotation rate of one or
more rotor discs, thereby changing its torque load and thrust/lift characteristics.

2
2.1. Construction (Mechanics)

As the name suggest Quadcopter consist of four arms. It has very sturdy mechanical design.
Each arm consist of a motor propeller pair. BLDC motors are commonly used for their high
speed and high torque properties. A control unit is placed at the center of the machine.
Control unit mainly consists of microcontroller and various sensors (Gyroscope,
Accelerometer, altitude sensor etc.).

Unlike most helicopters, quadcopters use two sets of identical fixed pitched propellers; two
clockwise (CW) and two counter-clockwise (CCW). These use variation of RPM to control
lift and torque. Control of vehicle motion is achieved by altering the rotation rate of one or
more rotor discs, thereby changing its torque load and thrust/lift characteristics.
There are two possible configurations + and X.

2.2. Construction (Electronic)

Electrical/Electronic structure of a quadcopter is a critical step of construction. Design of

quadcopter is not self-stable. Hence gyroscope and accelerometers are used to stabilize the
structure. Signal from these sensors is send to microcontroller. Microcontroller gives required
PWM output to motors separately. User can control the quadcopter using Remote controller.

3
3. Controlling types

3.1. AUTONOMOUS CONTROL

In general, Quad copter are very much difficult to control by only manual control without
using any sensors. So, if we use some specific motion sensors and apply some algorithms to
the values read from these sensors, the Quad copter can itself balance its motion. If we use
the above technique to control the Quad copter, it can then be called as "Autonomous".

3.2. MANUAL CONTROL

All the motors are connected to Electronic speed controllers (ESC) which control the speed of
the rotors and supply motor the required power. In the manual control, the signals to the
ESC's are directly sent by the transmitter remote control through receiver. Transmitter is used
by the user to control the quad manually. If the user changes the input, transmitter sends radio
signals to receiver and receiver changes these signals to PWM signals. These PWM signals
are sent to ESCs causing the change in the speed of the motors.

4
4. Basic working of a quadcopter

Quadcopter has very simple mechanical design. There are no moving parts in a quadcopter
except propellers. This makes control of quadcopter harder than conventional aeroplane.
These multirotors are controlled by electronic/ computer based systems. A microcontroller is
used as a brain for a quadcopter. Speed of motor is controlled by PWM technique. This PWM
waveform is given to Electronic Speed controller(ESC). ESC is a BLDC motor driving
circuit. This circuit provides equivalent current output to the motor. Rotation of motors lifts
the quadcopter in the air.
MOTOR PROPELLER DRIVE SCHEMATIC

5
5. Components

5.1. FLIGHT CONTROLLER

The flight controller is the nerve center of a drone. Drone flight control systems are many
and varied. From GPS enabled autopilot systems flown via two way telemetry links to basic
stabilization systems using hobby grade radio control hardware, the flight controller system is
versatile.

It is generalized term for complete control circuit. It mainly consists of microcontroller and
sensors like Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Altitude meter, GPS, barometric pressure sensors,
airspeed sensors etc.
Some special purpose boards are available in the market. One can make his own board by
interfacing different sensors with microcontroller.

5.2. MOTORS
For quadcopter application, mainly BLDC motors are used. Brushless motors are a popular
motor choice for model aircraft including helicopters. Their favourable power-to-weight
ratios and large range of available sizes, from under 5 gram to large motors rated at well into
the kilowatt output range, have revolutionized the market for electric-powered model flight,
displacing virtually all brushed electric motors. They have also encouraged a growth of
simple, lightweight electric model aircraft, rather than the previous internal combustion
engines powering larger and heavier models. The large power-to-weight ratio of modern
batteries and brushless motors allows models to ascend vertically, rather than climb
gradually. The low noise and lack of mess compared to small glow fuel internal combustion
engines is another reason for their popularity. Brushless DC electric motor (BLDC motors,
BL motors) also known as electronically commutated motors (ECMs, EC motors) are
synchronous motors that are powered by a DC electric source via an integrated
inverter/switching power supply, which produces an AC electric signal to drive the motor. In
this context, AC, alternating current, does not imply a sinusoidal waveform, but rather a bi-
directional current with no restriction on waveform. Additional sensors and electronics
control the inverter output amplitude and waveform (and therefore percent of DC bus
usage/efficiency) and frequency (i.e. rotor speed).

6
 << 3 phase BLDC motor

The rotor part of a brushless motor is often a permanent magnet synchronous motor, but can
also be a switched reluctance motor, or induction motor[citation needed].

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRUSHED AND BRUSHLESS MOTORS

Brushed DC motors have been in commercial use since 1879 .Brushless motors, on the other
hand, did not become commercially viable until 1962.
Brushed DC motors develop a maximum torque when stationary, linearly decreasing as
velocity increases. Some limitations of brushed motors can be overcome by brushless motors;
they include higher efficiency and a lower susceptibility to mechanical wear. These benefits
come at the cost of potentially less rugged, more complex, and more expensive control
electronics.

A typical brushless motor has permanent magnets which rotate around a fixed armature,
eliminating problems associated with connecting current to the moving armature. An
electronic controller replaces the brush/commutator assembly of the brushed DC motor,
which continually switches the phase to the windings to keep the motor turning. The

7
controller performs similar timed power distribution by using a solid-state circuit rather than
the brush/commutator system.

Brushless motors offer several advantages over brushed DC motors, including high torque to
weight ratio, more torque per watt (increased efficiency), increased reliability, reduced noise,
longer lifetime (no brush and commutator erosion), elimination of ionizing sparks from the
commutator, and overall reduction of electromagnetic interference (EMI). With no windings
on the rotor, they are not subjected to centrifugal forces, and because the windings are
supported by the housing, they can be cooled by conduction, requiring no airflow inside the
motor for cooling. This in turn means that the motor's internals can be entirely enclosed and
protected from dirt or other foreign matter.

Brushless motor commutation can be implemented in software using a microcontroller or

microprocessor computer, or may alternatively be implemented in analogue hardware, or in
digital firmware using an FPGA. Commutation with electronics instead of brushes allows for
greater flexibility and capabilities not available with brushed DC motors, including speed
limiting, "micro stepped" operation for slow and/or fine motion control, and a holding torque
when stationary.

8
The maximum power that can be applied to a brushless motor is limited almost exclusively
by heat;[citation needed] too much heat weakens the magnets[6] and may damage the
winding's insulation.

When converting electricity into mechanical power, brushless motors are more efficient than
brushed motors. This improvement is largely due to the brushless motor's velocity being
determined by the frequency at which the electricity is switched, not the voltage. Additional
gains are due to the absence of brushes, which reduces mechanical energy loss due to friction.
The enhanced efficiency is greatest in the no-load and low-load region of the motor's
performance curve.[citation needed] Under high mechanical loads, brushless motors and
high-quality brushed motors are comparable in efficiency.[citation needed][disputed
discuss]

Environments and requirements in which manufacturers use brushless-type DC motors

include maintenance-free operation, high speeds, and operation where sparking is hazardous
(i.e. explosive environments) or could affect electronically sensitive equipment.

5.3. ELECTRONIC SPEED CONTROLLER

An electronic speed control or ESC is an electronic circuit with the purpose to vary an
electric motor's speed, its direction and possibly also to act as a dynamic brake. ESCs are
often used on electrically powered radio controlled models, with the variety most often used
for brushless motors essentially providing an electronically generated three-phase electric
power low voltage source of energy for the motor.
ESC systems for brushed motors are very different by design; as a result brushed ESC's are
not compatible with brushless motors. Brushless ESC systems basically drive tri-phase
brushless motors by sending a sequence of signals for rotation. Brushless motors, otherwise
called outrunners or inrunners, have become very popular with radio controlled airplane
hobbyists because of their efficiency, power, longevity and light weight in comparison to
traditional brushed motors. However, brushless AC motor controllers are much more
complicated than brushed motor controllers.
The correct phase varies with the motor rotation, which is to be taken into account by the
ESC: Usually, back EMF from the motor is used to detect this rotation, but variations exist
that use magnetic (Hall Effect) or optical detectors. Computer-programmable speed controls
generally have user-specified options which allow setting low voltage cut-off limits, timing,
acceleration, braking and direction of rotation. Reversing the motor's direction may also be
accomplished by switching any two of the three leads from the ESC to the motor.

9
5.5. SENSORS
5.5.1. Gyroscope
Conventional aeroplanes are self-balanced. Aerodynamic design achieves the easy flight
control of aerial body. Helicopters also have tail rotor which counter acts the force due to
main rotor keeping helicopter stable. But in case of quadcopter, control becomes hard
The solution to this problem was gyroscopes, heavy brass spinning weights that tilted in
response to the helicopters motion. A Hall Effect sensor would detect that tilt and command
the tail rotor to counteract the helicopters rotation. As the years wore on, mechanical gyros
were replaced by solid state MEMS gyros. Microcontrollers entered the picture and brought
with them advanced processing techniques.

5.5.2. ACCELEROMETER
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration ("g-force"). Proper
acceleration is not the same as coordinate acceleration (rate of change of velocity). For
example, an accelerometer at rest on the surface of the Earth will measure an acceleration g=
9.81 m/s2 straight upwards. By contrast, accelerometers in free fall orbiting and accelerating
due to the gravity of Earth will measure zero.
Single- and multi-axis models of accelerometer are available to detect magnitude and
direction of the proper acceleration (or g-force), as a vector quantity, and can be used to sense
orientation (because direction of weight changes), coordinate acceleration (so long as it
produces g-force or a change in g-force), vibration, shock, and falling in a resistive medium
(a case where the proper acceleration changes, since it starts at zero, then increases).

10
6. CONTROL TECHNIQUES FOR A QUADCOPTER

A quadcopter is a mechanically simple aerial vehicle whose motion is controlled by speeding

or slowing multiple downward thrusting motor/propeller units. MultiCopters are
aerodynamically unstable and absolutely require an on-board computer (aka flight controller)
for stable flight. As a result, they are Fly by Wire systems and if the computer isnt
working, you arent flying. The flight controller combines data from small on-board MEMs
gyroscopes, accelerometers (the same as those found in smart phones) to maintain an accurate
estimate of its orientation and position.
The quadcopter shown above is the simplest type of multicopter, with each motor/propeller
spinning in the opposite direction from the two motors on either side of it (i.e. motors on
opposite corners of the frame spin in the same direction).
A quad copter can control its roll and pitch rotation by speeding up two motors on one side
and slowing down the other two. So for example if the quad copter wanted to roll left it
would speed up motors on the right side of the frame and slow down the two on the left.
Similarly if it wants to rotate forward it speeds up the back two motors and slows down the
front two.
The copter turns (aka yaw) left or right by speeding up two motors that are diagonally
across from each other, and slowing down the other two.
Horizontal motion is accomplished by temporarily speeding up/slowing down some motors
so that the vehicle is leaning in the direction of desired travel and increasing the overall thrust
of all motors so the vehicle shoots forward. Generally the more the vehicle leans, the faster it
travels.
Altitude is controlled by speeding up or slowing down all motors at the same time.
Let,
T1 , T2 , T3, T4 be the downward forces exerted by propeller,
1, 2, 3, 4 be rotational velocities of four motors,
, , be pitch angle, roll angle and yaw angle respectively.
, , be rate of change of these angles.

11
6.1. HOVERING CONDITION

EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES

=
=

EQUILIBRIUM OF DIRECTIONS

T1,2,3,4 || g

EQUILIBRIUM OF MOMENTS

=
=

EQUILIBRIUM OF ROTATION OF SPEEDS

( + ) - ( + )=0

RESULT
=0 =0 =0
`=0 `=0 `=0

12
6.2. UP AND DOWN MOVEMENT CONDITION

EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES

EQUILIBRIUM OF DIRECTIONS

T1,2,3,4 || g

EQUILIBRIUM OF MOMENTS

=
=

EQUILIBRIUM OF ROTATION OF SPEEDS

( + ) - ( + )=0

By increasing/decreasing the rotation speed of all the propellers we can:

Go Up:

13


>
=

Go Down:

<
=

RESULT
Vertical Motion with
=0 =0 =0
`=0 `=0 `=0

6.3. YAW ROTATION CONDITION

EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES

=
=

EQUILIBRIUM OF DIRECTIONS

14
 T1,2,3,4 || g

EQUILIBRIUM OF MOMENTS

=
=

EQUILIBRIUM OF ROTATION OF SPEEDS

( + ) - ( + ) 0

RESULT
=0 =0 = `
`=0 `=0 `= kY ( + ) - ( + )

6.4. ROLL ROTATION CONDITION

EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES

15


=
=

EQUILIBRIUM OF DIRECTIONS

T1,2,3,4 not parallel to g.

EQUILIBRIUM OF MOMENTS

EQUILIBRIUM OF ROTATION OF SPEEDS

( + ) - ( + ) 0

RESULT
= ` =0 =
`= kR ( + ) - ( + ) `=0 `= 0
No equilibrium of directions i.e. T1,2,3,4 not parallel to g.

ROLL ROTATION AND TRANSLATED FLIGHT

Total thrust T ==
is decomposed in:

16
Lift Force: TL = T cos -
Drag Force: TD = T sin -

Avoiding diving implies TL = T cos - = mg thus in translated flight we need more

power w.r.t. hovering or yawing

6.5. PITCH ROTATION CONDITION

EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES

=
=

EQUILIBRIUM OF DIRECTIONS

T1,2,3,4 not parallel to g.

EQUILIBRIUM OF MOMENTS

17


EQUILIBRIUM OF ROTATION OF SPEEDS

( + ) - ( + ) 0

RESULT

=0 = ` =
`=0 `= kP ( + ) - ( + ) `= 0
No equilibrium of directions i.e. T1,2,3,4 not parallel to g.
Also in this case the total thrust is decomposed thus we need more power w.r.t. hovering
or yawing

18
7. Controlling roll, pitch and yaw rates and trust

As discussed above we can have various combinations of Roll, Yaw and Pitch. Remote
controller sends signal to quadcopter. User can control Roll rate, Yaw rate, Pitch rate and
thrust as shown in the figure.

7.1. Need of control system

Due to slight variation in designs of a motor, propeller, drivers, each arm of quadcopter
produces different thrust. Also centre of gravity of a quadcopter may not align with centre of

19
quadcopter. Hence output of each motor is different. Each motor will produce different thrust.
Hence we do not have any control on of a motor. Hence we need feedback mechanism.

FEEDBACK CONTROL ALGORITHM

Measure your variable through a sensor.
Compare the measured value with your desired set point.
Apply the correction on the system on the basis of error.
Go to step 1.

The overall schematic of feedback controller

7.2.Need of integration of gyroscope and accelerometer

First we must measure euler angles (,,, )!
We could do this by using Gyroscopes, Accelerometers,
Magnetometers, but Gyroscopes measure angular velocities which can be integrated in order
to derive the angle alpha but
Numeric integration is affected by approximation errors

20
 Gyroscopes are affected by an offset, i.e. they give non-zero value when the measure
should be zero
Such an offset is not constant over time and depends on the temperature
Hence, the estimated angle is not reliable!
Accelerometer cannot give accurate reading due to other vibrations

We have two different source of the same information which are affected by two different
error types.
We can use both measures by fusing them in order to adjust the error and obtain a reliable
information.

21
8.1. Advantages

There are several advantages to quadcopters over comparably-scaled helicopters. First,

quadcopters do not require mechanical linkages to vary the rotor blade pitch angle as they
spin. This simplifies the design and
maintenance of the vehicle.[7] Second, the use
of four rotors allows each individual rotor to
have a smaller diameter than the equivalent
helicopter rotor, allowing them to possess less
kinetic energy during flight. This reduces the
damage caused should the rotors hit anything.
For small-scale UAVs, this makes the vehicles
safer for close interaction. Some small-scale
quadcopters have frames that enclose the rotors, permitting flights through more challenging
environments, with lower risk of damaging the vehicle or its surroundings.

8.2. Disadvantages
Quadcopters are not as powerful as a hexacopter or octocopter. Weight carrying capacity is
lower. The design is less stable and less efficient when compared with equivalent new
helicopters

22
9. Applications

Quadcopters have been used as unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and surveillance
by several law enforcement agencies and military. Not only that, but their ability to carry
decent payloads make them ideal choice for recreational fliers, as users can attach cameras
for first person views or aerial photography. This allows the users to fly these multirotors as
if they are sitting inside the craft like a pilot.

9.1. Research platform

Quadcopters are a growing point of interest for students involved in research work. These
lightweight flying devices are suitable for examining areas that would otherwise be hard to
reach for a human. Many quadrotors used by researchers are fitted with tools like a GPS and
an automatically leveling camera. These multirotors give the kind of hands on application and
real world experience that students need. Because of their high maneuverability and
capability of autonomous flight, they are suitable for use in many dangerous locations.
Additionally, this device works as a great tool for university researchers and students to
evaluate and test new ideas in many different fields like:
Real time systems
Navigation
Flight control theory
Robotics
Quadrotor projects are typically collaborations between mechanical engineering, electrical
engineering and computer science specialists. This collaboration of academics from different
fields generates cross fertilization of ideas and approaches in these projects. All the
participants in these projects need to work together to ensure any significant improvement in
the way these devices perform.
Additionally, these multirotors are available in variety of sizes, have simple mechanism and
are relatively cheap. Therefore, they are best suited as versatile test platforms, which can be
easily built and maintained by amateurs.

9.2. Commercial use

The most common commercial use of quadrotors is in the field of aerial imagery. Previously,
full-sized helicopters were used for stationary aerial imagery. However, in recent times
quadrotor drones have successfully replaced helicopters due to their huge cost savings and
autonomous nature. The process of capturing aerial imagery with a quadrotor is highly
simple. Therefore, it is used in various commercial environments ranging from industrial
systems inspection to real estate photography.

23
News networks are using this amazing new technology to get real-time video feed and
imagery while they are tackling emergency situations. Quadrotors allow them to look down
on the scene and get full picture of the incident and the surrounding environment.
Recently, the Parcelcopter project of the Deutsche Post got international media attention as
the company successfully tested its drone-delivery system for shipping medical products.
This was the first instance of delivering packages via drones to civilians.

9.3. Recreational use

Flying a quadrotor is somewhere in between flying a helicopter and an airplane. However, the
controls are easy to understand and master. Additionally, there are tons of models that are
available today, which start from the low cost version that offers you the feature of a radio
transmitter, to a high cost device that offers features like advanced stabilization, altitude hold
and GPS control.
Higher end quadrotors have the capability to lift full size video cameras and offer features
like remote viewing and remote control of the mounted camera. Therefore, there are many
people who use a RC quadcopter with a hobby perspective and record videos from the point
of view of the aircraft. Later they play back these videos or upload it to popular video
websites like YouTube.
There are many quadrotors that can lift a first person view system. This is encouraging people
to use this craft for creating many exciting videos. There are certain models of quadrotors that
are specially designed to perform aerobatic tricks like flips, loops and barrel rolls. Therefore,
people get the option to choose a craft that they can use in different ways. However, the
fixed-pitch blades of a quadcopter makes it impossible to fly them in an inverted position.

9.4. Promising future applications of quadrotors

New quadrotors are coming with many advanced applications that will result in several
improvements in their capabilities. One such advancement is development of quadrotors that
can track and follow moving ground targets. This capability will allow the quadcopter to be
used at many places, which includes filming of sporting events.
Quadcopters have come a long way from their initial models. Latest improvements in
microcontrollers, motors and small-scale sensors has immensely helped in the advancement
of this device, as older designs are implemented at smaller scale. Although, new research is
exploring the possibilities of quadrotor applications, they are already in use by many private,
government and commercial users, with applications ranging from surveillance to
recreational activities.
The future advancements in multirotor communication, maneuverability and environment
exploration will allow the creation for highly advanced quadcopters. This will enable the use
of these devices for many autonomous missions, which are presently not possible with any
other device.

24
10. Conclusion

I feel this technology can potentially be used to save lives or prevent harm to others. Some
examples of the application of quadcopters for emergency management I can see are:

Search and Rescue

o Would require night vision and infrared optics
HazMat
o Instead of sending people to read the placard, send a quadcopter
Police
o Similar to search and rescue, but for the bad guys
Code Enforcement/Inspections
o Building and bridge inspection without placing a person on a ladder or other
potentially dangerous situation
Emergency Management
o Situational awareness
o Damage assessment after disaster
Fire
o Better view of incident
o Infrared can locate area of fire, thus an efficient use of resources

These are just a few situations I can see quadcopters applied within public safety to either
take the risk from human life or efficiently manage resources.
The problem is commercially available quadcopters designed for these application in mind
were developed for the military and have a price tag near or above $15,000. Decrement in
prices will help boosting the research in this field, opening number of doors. Applications of
this quadcopters are limitless.

25
1. References

1. How does a quadcopter fly by Corrado Santoro.

2. Design and Control of an Autonomous Variable-Pitch Quadrotor Helicopter by
Mark Culter
3. Modelling and Control of a Quad-Rotor Robot by Paul Pounds, Robert Mahony,
Peter Corke
4. www.wikipedia.org
5. www.instructables.com
6. www.alselectro.wordpress.com
7. www.google.com for images

26