The brain of the drones: Electronic devices

Many times we wonder how the drones can be able to fly. But not only rise from the ground, but do it with precision and stability own science fiction. Drone by Drone has taken a look into one of the most recognized brains from the market, the DJI Phantom 3 Pro drone. In this article we see the main electronic parts that make up the "brain" of the drone and its duties.

Technological advances in electronics and software control have enabled miniaturized systems, sensors and devices to such an extent that can be accommodated in a reduced place of a drone.

These advances allow the flight of the drones to be performed safely and accurately through systems that are often redundant, heirs of the traditional aeronautical systems.

The main parts that make up the control unit of a drone are:

- IMU. Inertial Measurement Unit:

This is the electronic unit that is responsible for conducting the measurements that determine the actions of the drone and therefore lets the drone to know what its position is, relative to the immediately preceding state. Through the IMU, the drone knows its acceleration, displacement and therefore their positions at any time, using devices known as accelerometers, gyroscopes or magnetometers.

- Compass:

It is an electronic unit that lets the brain to know the orientation or direction with respect to the Earth's magnetic field, and therefore, toward where he made the movement.

- GNSS - GPS:

The units receive satellite positioning signals from satellites orbiting the Earth, allowing the drone to know its position accurately. The accuracy depends on the quality of the GPS unit, the system providing the service (GPS, GLONASS or Galileo), the type of GPS unit, whether it is RTK (used for surveying applications for its high accuracy) and satellite coverage in every moment.

- ESC - Electronic Speed ​​Controller:

This control units are which control the motors or drives engine with the necessary speed to ensure the flight and perform the actions required by the control button. The brushless electric motors rotate propellers or blades of the multicopter and the difference in rotational speed between them makes the drone evolves according to different performances: up, down, turn, yaw...

There are other electronic units that will interact with these, such as power supply control units, units of antennas for control signal reception, gimabal control unitsl or Camera Stabilizer units, vision positioning units for both stabilization and for obstacle avoidance, camera control, flight FPV...

The coexistence of all electronic units, and the interaction between them makes the drones sector continually evolves, allowing aircraft to provide these new capabilities.

The attached example is merely the plate and controller of DJI Phantom 3 Pro. With a superb finish, this drone of the Phantom series, represents the spearhead from the drones market, having evolved from the early Phantoms to the new Phantom 4 with new capabilities.

Enjoy the views.