UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE WINDOWS

Walls or buildings, antenna alignment or other electrical components can have disturbing affects and limit the radio range. A common frequency range for control is the 2,4 GHz band.

Live signal transmission for control and video data limit the flying range. The drone as well as the ground station controller use radio antennas. Typical communication to ground station works by radio frequency and GPS. So called tethered drones are power supplied with cables but therefore are restricted in range and height. For drones with higher safety conditions a redundancy of batteries should be considered. The durability of batteries depends on usage and temperature conditions. Air time correlates to payload and flying conditions, but often 30-40 minutes of flight time is sufficient time for most applications. These battery types offer good power density, handling and charging times for moderate costs. Most UAV’s are electric powered with rechargeable lithium-polymer (Li-Po-) or lithium-ion (Li-Ion-) batteries. The maneuverability is limited and fixed-wing UAVs are therefore harder to control and need an experienced pilot. A launchpad or runway for take-off and landing is essential as they are not able to be launched straight from the hand. Fixed-wing airplanes are often used in military applications for carrying payload. They are much more energy efficient than the multirotor drones and can reach higher speeds and flight time. Another UAV design is the fixed-wing drone design, like normal manned airplanes. Drones come in many shapes and sizes with different controllers and auto-pilot functions. Even an inexperienced pilot can take-off and land most consumer-market drones with ease. To maneuver in the air, individual rotor speeds can be adjusted with digital electronic speed controllers to orient the UAV as intended. Multirotor UAVs have high flight stability and good maneuverability. The multirotor principle of flight gives the pilot a very good control over the drone. A body with four motors/propellers is called quadrocopter, with six motors a hexacopter and with eight motors an octocopter. The only moving parts are the fixed horizontally oriented rotors. The body or airframe structure supports the arms with their motors and propellers.

UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE WINDOWS

A cockpit area with windows is not needed. The most favored civil drone design is the multirotor UAV design.

Figure 3: UAV of the TUM Chair of Non-destructive Testing

Unmanned aerial vehicle