Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences (한국항공우주학회지)

The Korean Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences (한국항공우주학회)
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Conceptual Design and Flight Testing of a Synchropter Drone

Synchropter 드론의 개념설계 및 비행시험

  • Chung, Injae (Agency for Defense Development) ;
  • Moon, Jung-ho (Department of Unmanned Aircraft System Engineering, Cheongju University)
  • Received : 2020.09.18
  • Accepted : 2020.10.20
  • Published : 2020.12.01
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Abstract

A synchropter is a type of rotorcraft in which a pair of blades inclined with each other rotates in synchronization. Removing the tail rotor enables an efficient and compact configuration similar to a coaxial-rotor helicopter. This paper describes the design and flight test results of a small synchropter to examine the suitability of a drone system for the army. The synchropter in this paper is a small vehicle with a rotor diameter of 1.4m and a weight of 7kg and was assembled based on commercial parts to examine flight characteristics effectively. The flight control system adopted Pixhawk, which is designed based on an open-architecture. The model-based design technique is applied to develop the control law of the synchropter and a new firmware embedded on the Pixhawk. Through qualitative flight tests, we analyzed the flight characteristics. As a result of the analysis, we confirmed the possibility of application as a drone system of the synchropter.

Synchropter는 서로 경사진 한 쌍의 회전날개가 동조 교차 회전하는 회전익 항공기의 일종으로 동축반전 헬리콥터와 마찬가지로 꼬리 회전날개를 제거할 수 있어서 효율적이며 간결한 형태의 비행체 구성이 가능하다. 드론 체계로서의 적합성을 검토하기 위하여 소형 Synchropter를 설계, 제작하여 비행시험을 수행하였다. 설계한 Synchropter는 로터 직경이 1.4m이며 중량이 7kg인 소형비행체로서 효율적으로 비행 특성을 확인하기 위하여 상용부품 기반으로 제작하였다. 비행 제어 시스템은 Open Architecture인 Pixhawk를 기반으로 구성하였으며, Sychropter 제어법칙을 PX4 펌웨어에 탑재할 수 있도록 개발하였다. 정성적 비행시험을 통해 Synchropter의 비행 특성을 분석하였으며, 분석 결과, 드론 체계로서의 활용 가능성을 파악할 수 있었다.

Keywords

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