Unmanned aerial vehicles, the product of modern technology, have played a huge role in aerial photography, agriculture, firefighting, rescue and many other fields. So, how are these drones in the sky controlled?
The control system of the UAV is mainly composed of four parts: flight control system, remote control system, sensor system and data transmission system.
Flight Control System:
This is the "brain" of the drone, which is responsible for processing the data transmitted from various sensors, calculating the attitude, position and other information of the drone, and controlling the motor speed and servo angle of the drone according to the preset flight plan or remote control command, so as to adjust the flight status of the drone.
Remote control system: through radio signals, the operator's instructions are transmitted to the drone. The remote control system generally consists of two parts: the transmitter is held by the operator, and the receiver is installed on the drone.
Sensor System:
Including gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, GPS positioning module, etc. These sensors can perceive the attitude, speed, position and other information of the drone in real time, and provide data support for the flight control system.
The principle of the UAV flight control system is based on the interaction between sensors, controllers, and actuators. The sensor obtains various state information of the drone, and the controller finally controls the flight of the drone by processing this information and sending signals to the actuator.
During the control process, the flight control system also needs to consider various external interference factors, such as wind power, air pressure, etc. In order to ensure the stable flight of the UAV, the control system needs to constantly adjust the stability of the fuselage and make corresponding adjustments to the interference factors.
Depending on the application scenario, drones usually have a variety of control modes, such as manual mode, semi-automatic mode, fully automatic mode, etc.
Manual Mode:
In manual mode, the remote control handle or mobile phone is used to directly control various flight actions of the drone, but this manual mode requires the operator to have high flight control skills, which is suitable for flight tasks in complex environments.
Semi-automatic mode:
The drone in semi-automatic mode can fly automatically according to the preset flight plan, and can also be manually controlled at any time, for example, in case of special circumstances, the operator can intervene through the remote control system. This mode both guarantees the autonomy of the flight and retains the operator's control over the flight process.
Fully automatic mode:
The fully automatic mode of the drone will fly autonomously according to the preset flight plan without operator intervention, and this mode is suitable for highly repetitive, relatively simple environment flight tasks, such as aerial photography, agricultural spraying, etc.
After reading the above content, we will find that the UAV can fly stably in the air is a combination of a variety of high-tech means, it is a complex system engineering, which combines both sophisticated hardware and a variety of advanced software technologies. In the future, as technology continues to advance, we will see drones become more intelligent and autonomous.