Project Falcon - University of Sheffield
Who we are:
Project Falcon is a team of students from the University of Sheffield who are designing and manufacturing a drone patent. This essentially is a drone with wings that have a variable incidence controller so they are always level because the angle at which the drone flies will change a lot. The use of this wing will allow longer flight times due to a greater efficiency as there is less dependency on thrust solely from the motors. We hope to then promote this design so it can be adapted and used for sustainable humanitarian relief or to help solve other worldwide problems and so are currently working on a payload system so the drone is able to transport cargo.
Our website and social media can be found here:
https://www.projectfalcon.uk/
Instagram: @ projectfalcon_uk
Facebook: Project Falcon
About the Electronics:
The drone uses the variable incidence wing principle however a controller will be needed for this to work. We are using a stepper motor driver to drive a stepper motor which will be able to accurately change the angle of the wing. We have developed the circuit on a breadboard using an Arduino Nano to measure the angle of the drone using a gyroscope. We would like the electronics to be as compact and light as possible as weight and size are crucial factors when designing any component for a drone. For the electronics we have multiple prototyping methods., including a laser cut .dxf of the drone outline allowing us to configure where different electronics components or systems will be positioned within the drone. This allows us to combat issues such as cable length and cooling early.
The stepper motor due to its high power requirement will be powered directly from the battery used for the main drone electronics rather than from the voltage output of the main board. The circuit board can be powered from any voltage source on the drone as long as it is either 5v or high above this such as 12V or 24V.
The screenshot above shows part of the full assembly with the stepper motor and gearing system that connects the motor to the spars of the wings. The bearing assembly for the spars including the mounting bracket can also be seen in the assembly.
Here is a video of the prototype wing controller working:
Check out our blog posts on our website to have a look at our progress throughout the project development.
Version 1 PCB:
The first version PCB has been designed using Fritzing which is a free PCB design tool. As a team we have decided to use this because some team members have previous experience using this software, everyone in the team can download it and it is clear to learn or use especially with no experience.
The first version of the circuit board isnt extremely compact however it provide lots of flexibility with pin extensions and multiple possible input voltages. We decided on this because there are still a lot of design decisions to be made by other sub-teams which may impact the electronic system designs and so this provides a professional and reliable board but with the potential to use it within a variety of designs.
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