Figure 1: RTF- quadcopter.
Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über www.dnb.de abrufbar.
Impressum
Roland Büchi, 2016
Herstellung und Verlag: BoD – Books on Demand GmbH,
Norderstedt
ISBN: 978-3-7386-9263-1
Figure 1: RTF- quadcopter.
At the beginning of the development of quadcopters in the early 2000s one had to buy all the components separately. At that time there were only a few complete systems. So you had to assemble the systems by yourself – control electronics, brushless controllers, motors, propellers and frame. Then you had to download the appropriate software for the system. In those days, this kind of construction required a good level of technical knowledge about the function of each component.
But the ongoing development of the electronics in recent years means that quadcopters are today mainly purchased by users as complete systems and RTF (‘ready to fly’). So today, for the pure fun of flying it is no longer absolutely necessary to understand the technology of these fascinating systems to the finest detail. And that’s good because in this way quadcopter systems can be made accessible to many model pilots.
Often there are model pilots from other sectors, e.g. aircraft, helicopter, car or ship model builders, who simply buy and fly such aircraft out of curiosity. Or there are complete newbies who have never previously come into contact with flight models.
The ‘ready to fly’ market goes hand in hand with a substantial price reduction. In the early years of development it was still necessary to pay about the same price for a quadcopter as for a large model helicopter, making many people think twice about whether they really want to start this hobby. Today, however, one sees quadcopters in all sizes and price ranges on the market. They start with the toy quadcopters, which are small and, despite their low price, often surprisingly robust, and finish with big quadcopters with several kilograms of weight and a payload to transport cameras for photo flight.
In this model division, a similar trend can be observed as with helicopter and airplane models. The smaller and cheaper systems are often built as ‘ready to fly’, while larger systems are often available as kits, with the possibility of software downloading and the installation of extensions, e.g. photo flight or GPS systems.
Figures 1 and 2 show RTF quadcopters which you can buy for a relatively small amount of money and which promise good fun flight already after a few minutes. You just need to take the quadcopter out of the box and charge the battery, and you’re ready. The size comparison with a credit card shows that even quite small miniature quadcopters can be built. The question of whether such systems can be operated both indoors and outdoors then arises. The situation is similar with model helicopters. In both cases, the smaller systems are more suitable for indoors, because of their small size. They often have too small a thrust to be used outdoors. This causes problems with the wind influences. They will sometimes be completely blown away. As soon as the systems are slightly larger than the smallest format, you can go outside on windless days and risk some test flights. From a propeller size of about 4 inches (=10 cm) the produced thrust is quite suitable for use outdoors and the quadcopter is also able to withstand light wind influence. Then it is also really interesting for outdoor flights undertaken with built-in cameras.
Figure 2: RTF quadcopters can be quite small – here compared to a credit-card-sized card.
Such RTF models can include different features. Mostly, however, it is so that in addition to the completely assembled quadcopter, the radio control and maybe even a small battery charger are also included. Often in very small systems, the battery of the radio control is tapped as a charger to recharge the battery. Some quadcopters can also be charged via a USB cable directly from a PC.
But the packages of RTF models today in many cases also include other accessories. Figure 3 shows a quadcopter which is housed in a flight case. It is one of those systems which in the basic equipment can be purchased as RTF along with the radio control.
But here a lot more is included than with small systems. For example, even a GPS is built in. Thus the quadcopter can hold its current position when you press a button with the radio control, or it can fly along programmed waypoints. In addition, this quadcopter can also be expanded with a camera holder. It is then ready for photo and film flights. There is even the possibility to put a smartphone on the radio control and watch what is being filmed. Of course, such complete systems are more expensive than those which were shown above. When purchasing one, you should always first consider what extension components you would like to use later and find out whether they are also available for these systems.
Figure 3: Quadcopter in a flight case, mount the propeller protection and ready for takeoff.
A good example of an RTF quadcopter system with integrated video system is illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. A camera is already installed in this quadcopter. The radio control even includes a display. This shows the transmitted images from the camera already during the flight. So the model pilot can see the transmitted image data while also keeping visual contact with the quadcopter. He may just feel as if he were sitting directly in the cockpit himself. This is a so- called online data transmission. Here, the images and films are transferred during the flight. There are also systems with offline data transmission available. Here, during the flight there is no opportunity to access the photos and movies.
Figure 4: Quadcopter with integrated camera.
In many quadcopters additional functions are included which can produce great effects in the air. There are some which can fly autonomous figures at your fingertips on the radio control. This may for example be a flip, so a fast rotation around the nick or roll axis or a rotation around the vertical axis, or the trajectory of a figure of eight.