The Callaghan 2015 C-Prize competition was focused on UAV technology. This was my entry in the position holding section, and it progressed through to the finals. Each motor has two degrees of freedom, to allow translation of the UAV whilst keeping the body level. It used optical flow sensing and a novel wind direction sensor to help maintain position.
VTOL tiltrotor flying wing entry for the 2018 UAV Challenge: Medical Express. During the competition, the UAV has to fly approximately 13 nautical miles to a farm, land to collect a simulated blood sample, then return back to base. UAV has a modular wing, with each wing module containing a tilting rotor, flight controller, battery management, and a battery located within the wing spar. Thrust vectoring is used in forward flight for attitude control. Centre section houses mission controller, sensor suite, comms, and payload storage.
Further development of the C-Prize entry with a modular design, aiding serviceability and configuration adaptability to suit requirements. Each arm can rotate about its major axis, and is a separate system containing a controller, IMU and motor control. Optical flow sensors are also in included to augment position hold abilities.
Coaxial inspection UAV with a removeable sensor head. Curved battery packs, located in rear section of shroud to offset sensor weight, with adjustable position to maintain correct centre of gravity. Stabilised sensor head contains an IMU and a stereoscopic camera. This is paired with head-tracking VR goggles allowing for UAV control from camera frame of reference.
Integrated motor / rotor head
Camera / Film UAV – An further refined version with greater control authority. The propulsion system on each side can rotate independently about the pitch axis, and the propulsion system as a whole can rotate about the roll axis. The size and position of the payload and battery are adjustable to maintain correct centre of gravity, and work together to maximise the camera rotational inertia whilst minimising the propulsion system rotational inertia (allowing fast response to external disturbances) to create a stable camera platform.
BiCopter UAV
