Drones have been a very popular innovation in 21st century technology. With a number of uses and applications, several businesses, institutions, researchers, or enthusiasts take an interest in drone technology for their own specific needs and wants. Though the drone industry still has much room for improvement in the upcoming decades, UAV technology has proven to be very useful in this period, where institutions rely heavily on innovative solutions that promote the safety of its employees and communities during the ongoing pandemic.
When specifically discussing how drones are able to move, we turn to the basics of physics in order to get a better understanding and look into the two kinds of motions the device takes. Simply put, drones need to move up and down for its vertical position (imagine a z-plane) and then rotational motions to move along the x-y plane. In addition, to get a drone to tilt or move sideways is just a matter of adjusting the speed of the rotors.
Rotors are a key component of aerial vehicles that engineers must have a firm understanding on. Rotors are simply spinning blades that control its push of air in order to move in a specific direction. When the rotors spin faster, more air is pushed and the motion is greater. Vertical motion relies on this concept that we can observe during the first lift of the device, where the rotors are controlled in order to maintain, increase, or decrease the vertical position. Other factors are also considered such as the device weight, thrust, air drag, environment, etc. but this is basically the general idea.
Curious as to how the drones are able to move sideways and make turns or rotations? Do the rotors change its rotational direction when making a turn or does speed have anything to do with it? The idea of making drones turn is simple; researchers must have a strong understanding of the physics concepts that play a big role in how this technology was developed in the first place. The four rotors spaced equally apart on the drone don’t all rotate in the same direction; opposite rotors move clockwise while the adjacent rotors move counterclockwise, so as to cancel out the device’s angular momentum. This is why the symmetry of the weight and composition of the drone is important to consider. With regards to the turning and rotating motion of the devices, we take attention to the speeds of the rotors. When all four rotors have the same momentum, the device stays in place yet when one or more of the rotors have unsymmetrical values in momentum, the position of the device will change in accordance with the set parameters. A lot of computations come into play with this concept, but drone developers have considered many of the variables that affect these motions and even further improve the stability of the drone, which is important when these devices are to be used for surveillance where a steady camera angle is necessary. Nowadays, the process of making these devices and programming them has become simpler yet improved.
