Device for Measuring Multicopters Performance Parameters

Abstract

New requirements for classifying unmanned aerial vehicles are forcing institutions as well as manufacturers to devise established procedures and methodologies for testing vehicles. A new possibility of dynamic testing of performance parameters of multicopters is offered in addition to conventional software modeling of flight characteristics and static tests in wind tunnels. This alternative is currently hampered by the problem of flight data collection. This work deals with the design of a complex measuring device specially designed for the testing of the flight characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles. The proposed modular device provides the user with a flight record containing time-synchronized data showing the linear and angular accelerations achieved by the vehicle during flight, three-axis roll, flight altitude, magnetic course, multicopter speeds, and revolutions of each power unit separately. This work further defines the conditions imposed on the type of tested multicopter (load capacity) and the subsequent need for its balancing. The output of this work is to support the experimental research of dynamic quantification of multicopter performance properties during flight.