Table of Contents
Course Title: A Comprehensive Course for Drone Constructors
Volume of the course: contact hours
Proposed volume: 1 semester, 3-5 ECTS
Language
English
Abstract
This course covers both drone usage and drone constructions, in particular, all knowledge necessary to design a new drone of the multirotor class, fixed-wing class. This course relates to the ready hardware components as it does not include advanced aerodynamics, wing design and related mathematics. This course covers both autonomous and manual (remote controlled) variety of drone constructions for VLOS and BVLOS flights. It also includes partially Drone Operators' Course, within the scope needed to test and benchmark constructions.
Goals and objectives of the course in terms of competencies and skills
The aim of the course is to provide knowledge on drone constructions, communication protocols, operations at conceptual, component, mechanical, electrical/electronic and software levels.
Outcomes:
- Be able to understand drone technology in general and in detail.
- Have an in-depth understanding of all drone ecosystem building components, their purpose, operation principles on both usage and construction details.
- Be able to design and implement a multirotor and fixed-wing drone for manual and autonomous operations.
- Be aware of device limitations.
- Be able to design and implement complex drone ecosystems that include aerial and ground units.
- Be able to understand, design and implement a variety of software components and communication components existing in the drone ecosystem.
- Be able to operate a flying platform in both manual and autonomous mode enough to test and benchmark the drone ecosystem.
Structure and tasks of independent studies
Work is organised into:
- theoretical form, given by the lecturer in the form of multimedia presentations,
- self-study, using the attached workbook,
- practical part using drone simulators in the laboratory room,
- practical part in the laboratory room and outdoor (drone construction, testing), indoor flying room and outdoor flying (testing, tuning, benchmarking).
Course prerequisites
Elementary mathematics and physics, software on use level, including both Windows and Linux OSes, a good understanding of electrical principles and laws is essential to smoothly perform through the course. Manual skills in soldering, mechanics and mechatronics is strongly advised.
Course contents
Proposed as for full-time studies with direct contact hours required for practical activities.
Table 1: Drone constructors' course contents and proposed workload
| Topic | Contact hours | Self study hours | Resources - presentation name (section/s) | Content classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theoretical part | ||||
| Drone types and frames (multirotor, fixed wings and helicopters), elementary understanding of the lift force generation. | 1 | 1 | UAV Components Part 1 (Frame/Body/Wing section) | UAV technology module; |
| Drone building components (actuators: propulsion, servos, propellers, sensors, ESCs) | 4 | 2 | UAV Components Part 1 (Propulsions, servos: UAV constructions section + Sensors: UAV hardware components section UAV Components Part 2 (Multirotors: Advanced properties of the electric propulsions: Brushless DC motors, ESCs, Configurations section) | UAV technology module; |
| Drone building components (flight controllers, remote control and ground station components) | 2 | 2 | UAV Components Part 1 (Flight Controller / Remote Control: UAV hardware section) | UAV technology module; |
| Drone powering (batteries, chargers, BEC, maintenance) | 2 | 0 | UAV Components Part 1 (Powering: UAV hardware section) | UAV technology module; |
| Other hardware related to the UAV (mechanical, cameras, FPV gear, ground station components, antennas and trackers) | 2 | 1 | UAV Components Part 1 (Other components: UAV hardware section) UAV Components Part 2 (Multirotors: FPV gear: Cameras, Transmitters section) | UAV technology module; |
| Inner communication protocols in the UAV | 2 | 1 | UAV Data Transmission and Protocols (Introduction + Internal communication and protocols (micro-scale)) | UAV technology module; |
| Drone ecosystem communication protocols | 2 | 1 | UAV Data Transmission and Protocols (External communication and protocols (macro-scale)) | UAV technology module; |
| Software solutions for drone ecosystems | 2 | 2 | UAV Components Part 1 (UAV components: Software section), github (for flight controller related software: betaflight, inav, cleanflight) | UAV technology module; |
| UAV operation principles - RC control | 2 | 1 | UAV Operations and Their Safety (Practice … makes master … section) | UAV operations module; |
| Coexistence in the airspace with other user (technical approach, UTM components) | 1 | 0 | UAV Operations and Their Safety (UTM components section) | UAV operations module; |
| Total: | 20 | 10 | ||
| Practice part | ||||
| Multirotor / fixed wing / heli practice on simulators | 1 | 15 | Simulator documentation specific for contact hours, for self study: UAV Operations and Their Safety (Practice … makes master … section) | UAV operations module; |
| Multirotor / fixed wing / heli practice on real drones | 1 | 3 | Hardware specific documentation, for self study: UAV Operations and Their Safety (Practice … makes master … section) | UAV operations module; |
| Drone design (supervised) | 10 | 20 | Internet, web, in particular www.ecalc.ch | UAV technology module; |
| Drone implementation, tuning and testing | 30 | 30 | Internet, youtube, in particular Betaflight.com, dji.com, hobbyking.com (look for documentation and links to the vendors) | UAV operations module; |
| Total: | 42 | 68 | ||
Learning outcomes and their assessment methodology
Table 2: Drone Constructors' course outcomes and their assessment methodology
| Outcome | Assessment method |
|---|---|
| Familiarity with drone types regarding airframes, their properties and differences | Written-test |
| Familiarity with drone ecosystem building components | Written-test |
| Ability to plan drone ecosystem | Written-test |
| Ability to control manually a selected type of drone (regarding airframe) and ability to test autonomous functions of the solution (if any) | Practical test on the simulator, indoors or outdoors |
| Ability to plan drone ecosystem and their components (aerial unit, ground station, communication) | Project report |
| Ability to implement drone ecosystem | Laboratory work results (evaluation of the performance of the working solution), laboratory report |
