Design considerations of the duo fugam dual rotor UAV

A prototype Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), named Duo Fugam, was designed and tested as a dual rotor copter capable of semi-autonomous flight. The design involved consideration of the mechanical and control requirements for the UAV. Additional features such as wireless communication and gesture with voice control were also implemented. Various testing experiments were conducted to assess and improve the stability and duration of the copter flight. An analysis of the air flow is shown when shrouds are implemented. Payloads were also incorporated into copter frame to assist in stability by lowering the centre of gravity of the copter creating a pendulum effect. This pendulum effect acts as a rotary damper, as the Dual-Rotor UAV (DR-UAV) is roll and pitch sensitive, due to the two rotary axial control modes. The copter may be flown via remote control or through keyboard interface which linked in with wireless communication that was developed, and was facilitated by Arduino coding and Xbee modules. Using a Kinect sensor gesture and voice control of the copter were also configured. Specific hand gestures and voice commands were used to correlate to certain functions such as hovering and forward motion.