There's always something new under the sun! You never stop learning and that's a good thing. For several years there has been a never-seen kind of models: the quadrocopters. This is a kind Helicopter or VTOL aircraft with four propellers arranged crosswise, pointing upward.
The operating principle
The principle is simple and has even been successfully implemented in the 1920s in large aircraft. Together generate the propeller (or rotors) enough thrust to keep the aircraft in the air. Now is crossed pairs changed the thrust of the rotors, will also change the air movement. We can provide at normal Plane Pitch, roll and yaw. And when the thrust of all four rotors is changed uniformly rise or even fall. All we need to fly!
Changed the thrust is not as for RC Helicopter via a swash plate, but mostly by the simple change of speed. More speed is equal to more power, less speed means less thrust. This makes the mechanism very simple.
The problem in the past
But the structure is so simple, so complicated is the maintenance of stable attitude. Because such a device has no natural stability. Any small disturbance - by a gust, for instance - must always be controlled by hand. But that can hold no pilot in the long run, even if he could always respond quickly enough. Therefore, it was also the original from the 20s is not developed.
The solution: computer :-)
But today we have the little helpers are available: the computer! So untenable a few tinkerers built into the simple mechanics, which is only from four engines with four controllers and three piezo gyro (one for each axis, one for the recognition of the position change) - a microprocessor that compensates for any changes in position immediately by influencing the thrust of the rotors . What is not in itself stable in the air, by Computer . And the fellow that makes it faster and more accurate than a human ever can.
Modern RC Quadrocopter
Meanwhile there is this Quadrocopter to buy ready-made and they should also work really great! They are used except for fun, for example, for aerial photography. Together with a GPS receiver on board, they can even be positioned extremely accurately. And without that the pilot controls really, he just needs to enter the coordinates. Here we model flyers are apparently even more than the man carrying flying.
No wonder then that, unfortunately, unfortunately, the military gets something sharp. Apparently, many armies have such Quadrocopter already in their arsenal, whether it comes to spying or even by remote control to shoot people dead. Oh Jeez, because such a frenzy never end?