About Me.
Goals:My goal was to build a solar powered drone that could help different parties with a range of applications including Search and Rescue, Firefighting, Tracking animal migrations etc. The drone would need some way of being solar powered whether with an onboard solar panel or offboard docking station. This project was challenging because initially I did not know a lot about drones or solar power so I needed to learn some aspects make sure that the drone worked. My goal is to study aeronautical engineering in university, and I hoped that the lessons I learned during this project will help me in the future.
Reflection
This project has greatly increased my understanding on the topic, I now know significantly more about both drones and solar panels than before. I realised that learning how solar panels work and how to attach them as it is not as simple as I originally thought. When working on the drone I learned a lot about how the systems and modules on a drone work, specifically the brain or controller. The drone I made uses a brain that is older so the coding for the drone is more complicated, luckily I learned how to do what was necessary with a little bit of help, even with the brain not complying fully (Appendix 7). In the end I learned a lot about both flying drones and how they work, due to this I believe if I was to do something similar I would be able to do it with a fixed wing drone instead which is more complicated. Link to drone making video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jXT5jrZoks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfqWY_3hT8E Bibliography DroneDeploy. “Choosing the Right Mapping Drone for Your Business Part I: Multi-Rotor vs. Fixed Wing Aircraft.” Medium, DroneDeploy's Blog, 19 June 2017, medium.com/aerial- acuity/choosing-the-right-mapping-drone-for-your-business-part-i-multi-rotor-vs-fixed-wing- aircraft-6ec2d02eff48.
Allain, Rhett. “Modeling the Thrust From a Quadcopter.” Wired, Conde Nast, 28 Sept. 2018, www.wired.com/2014/05/modeling-the-thrust-from-a-quadcopter/. N/A, N/A. “What Is a MultiCopter and How Does It Work?¶.” What Is a MultiCopter and How Does It Work? - Copter Documentation, 2020, ardupilot.org/copter/docs/what-is-a-multicopter-and- how-does-it-work.html. N/A, FAA. “AIRCRAFT PROPELLER MAINTENANCE.” Advisory Circular Aircraft Propeller Maintenance, FAA, 9 Sept. 2005, www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_20-37e.pdf. Dunbar, Brian. “Helios Prototype Solar-Powered Aircraft.” NASA, NASA, 10 May 2017, www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/pastprojects/Helios/index.html. |