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A Modified Design of Unmanned Aerial & Ground Vehicle (UAGV)

Conference Paper · January 2017

DOI: 10.2316/P.2017.853-012

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 Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference
Modelling, Simulation and Identification (MSI 2017)
July 19 - 20, 2017 Calgary, Canada

A MODIFIED DESIGN OF UNMANNED AERIAL & GROUND VEHICLE

(UAGV)

Sumeet Sagar, Sunidhi Garg, Siddharth Aggarwal, Vinayak Chakravarty and *Swati Sondhi
Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering Department, Thapar University, Patiala, INDIA
Email*: swatiei@gmail.com

ABSTRACT construction and designing of a small quadcopter by Kun

In this paper, a modified model for the body frame of a Li et.al. [4] Unlike these Quadcopters mentioned, the
quadcopter has been suggested. In the proposed model, an proposed Unmanned Aerial & Ground Vehicle (UAGV)
additional feature has been incorporated in the has an additional capability to drive on ground. Features
quadcopter, using body frame modifications, that gives it like creating a light rigid body having the capability of
the capability to travel on the ground in all types of terrain bearing the weight of the Unmanned Aerial & Ground
even in case of an upside down landing. The design has Vehicle (UAGV), microcontroller, belt, rotors, and
been made in such a way that none of the predefined placement of sensors were considered while designing the
flight parameters are compromised due to this new UAGV. The size of the quadcopter depends upon its
addition. This makes the modified quadcopter much more application. A 3D model of UAGV was designed on
useful in a variety of applications pertaining to military Solidworks.
operations, search and spy operations etc. The model is
designed using Solidworks software. It has an upper edge While designing a quadcopter, type of rotor and propeller
over the normal quadcopters that is it has a set of belt to be used depends upon the UAGV frame size and hence
frames mounted on it, enabling it to move on ground. The the latter was established first. A frame of 8cm 2 was
belt frame is hexagonal in shape having caterpillar tracks, chosen considering it to be the appropriate size for
can easily move on rough terrains allowing it to move carrying the load of electronic components. Movement of
even when it is upside down. the quadcopter through the medium of air is due to the
force exertion by rotating propellers. Type of propeller
KEY WORDS used and the magnitude of rotor’s rotation affect the
Quadcopter; Drone; UAGV; Solidworks; Airflow. upward force, called thrust [5]. Propeller with size
5x4(inches) is analysed to study the effect of airflow from
1. Introduction the upper half towards body frame, where 5” is the
Quadcopter is based on the basic concept of quadrotor diameter of the propeller and 4” is the pitch as shown
helicopter of four motors, but it is completely different, Fig.1.
where the force to lift is generated by 4 motors. Equality
existing between helicopter and quadcopter is landing and
vertical takeoff capabilities. Quadcopters can be
controlled using a remote control, which makes it very
useful for spying operations on military enemy camps,
reaching out to places unreachable by humans for causes
like outreach of medicines, food etc. and also can be used
in searching places where humans can’t reach. An
incredible evolution of Quadcopters took place in 21st
century. Researchers, students and Universities are
continuously working to propose various modelling
techniques and more robust controllers, so that they will Fig.1. 5  4 Propeller (in inches)
be able to give more precise and detailed representations
The caterpillar track on the sides is mounted on hexagonal
of real life quadcopters. In recent years, Hardik Modh [1]
frame having slots to carry rotors that are coupled with the
presented the theoretical evaluation, testing results
analysis and frame design in comparison to results for belt.
distinct cross sections. Pound et.al. presented fundamental
mobility analysis and controlling approaches with the help 2. Quadcopter Body Frame Modelling
of a quadcopter that was very large in size and had a pay
While designing the body frame of UAGV, it is necessary
load of 4kg [2-3]. By taking various thicknesses and
to take into account the overall weight that is to be borne
shapes of frames, an analysis had been done for the

DOI: 10.2316/P.2017.853-012 26
by the UAGV which includes the frame, rotor, belt, and The hexagonal design of the belt makes UAGV a perfect
sensor [6]. Here, an 8cm 2 frame was found to be model for rough terrain. The main advantage of this type
appropriate for carrying the load of electronic components of design is that it will be able to drive even when landed
and hence the type of propeller and rotor to be used was upside down [7]. The caterpillar tracks are composed of
computed in terms of UAGV’s ability to carry weight. Neoprene because of its high breaking strength and heat
The UAGV is 49.43 cm (length) x 29.72 cm (width) as
resistance [8].
shown in Fig.2.
Materials like plastic, wood, aluminium and carbon fiber
can be used for making UAGV. Static structural analysis
for various materials has been done previously [9]. Rotor
and propeller’s type should be decided first before
analyzing of airflow across the frame of the body. Rotor’s
data used in this research is presented in Table 1.

Table 1 Rotor Specifications

Fig.2 Top View of UAGV (in cm)

Symmetric perforations were made into the body and

wing frame in order to achieve the lightest weight
possible still maintaining rigidity so that it can withstand
the weight and also fly stable, Fig.3.

The rotor is connected with the 5x4 (inches) propeller.

Fig. 4 shows the CAD model and connection between
frame, rotor, belt and propeller. With this design, it is
possible to conduct the CFD on UAGV.

Fig.3 Wing Frame and Belt Frame (in cm)

The body frame of UAGV is made of 3 parts viz., a base Fig.4. the 3D CAD Model of UAGV
frame, wing frame and belt frame.
The base frame is made using two square pieces (8cm),
3. Mathematical Preliminaries
one for the upper and one for the bottom base frame. The
distance between top and bottom frame is 2cm and can Resulting thrust is calculated by using Newton’s Laws of
comfortably hold the electronic assembly. Component’s Motion. According to Newton’s Second Law of Motion,
centre of mass and sensor are placed in the middle for this when a force acts on a mass acceleration is produced. The
type of designing. A perforated wing frame is also used greater the mass, the higher the amount of force required.
Force ( F ) equals mass ( m ) time’s acceleration ( a ) or
which lessens the weight without compromising with
also equal to the momentum change rate. That means a
rigidity. Wing frame has a circular area upon which the force is always associated whenever there is any change
rotors are mounted. Belt frame is fixed to this wing frame in the value of momentum. In this case, the amount of
maintaining the symmetry. Belt frame has separate rotors wind associated with the change in the direction of air
that help to move the belt (110 cm long) when driving on flow around the propeller is related to the experienced
ground. force.

27
 d  mv  unexpected aerodynamic forces due to the changes in the
F  ma  (1) thrust conditions and un-modelled blade-flapping
dt
The equation (1) derived from Newton’s Laws of Motion dynamics[13].The propeller’s maximum size that can be
is used for explaining the relation among thrust and mounted is limited by the rotor’s maximum torque and the
velocity induced. On the basis of fluid dynamic theory, airflow’s magnitude generated by each rotor. For stable
the rate of flow of mass (in this case airflow encircling the flight with respect to space area a sound body frame is
propeller) in steady /hovering movement condition can be designed maintaining symmetry along centre. Quadcopter
computed based on air pressure with the surface area ( A ).
was designed to have aerodynamic spaces between the
Air density (  ), velocity of air ( u ) is the two parameters
propellers which are used to keep a steady flight path
on which air pressure force confides shown in equation
(2). The thrust or emphasis on the disc is always equal to through air mass [12].
the rate of change in the axial momentum of the air as
defined by the conservation of the momentum.

T    AU  .v (2)

Velocity of the air under the propeller is represented by

v . Minimum thrust required per motor to counter the total
weight is given by equation (3).

2
T  W. (3)
n

Where W is the weight (Oz) and n is the number of Fig.5. Cut Plot of airflow around Propeller at 9,000 RPM
rotors.
Minimum speed (in RPM ) required providing the Based on the specification of the motor used, the
balancing thrust depends upon the type of propeller. The generated torque can be calculated which is
relation is defined as given in equation (4). 18000 RPM / V , corresponding maximum voltage used is
16V thereby providing rotor’s maximum velocity of
T  P.D 3 .  RPM  .1010  OZ 
2
(4) 28800 RPM . At 80% throttle, the velocity of rotor will
become 23040 RPM and the wind velocity experienced
by each propeller will be 8 m/s. The highest wind velocity
Where P & D are the pitch and diameter of the propeller
at 9000 RPM is 5 m/s and is in the chord line of the
(in inches) respectively [11-12]. The total weight of the
propeller, refer Fig.5. Airflow produced on the outer
UAGV is 393.91(gram).The amount of thrust generated
surface area of propellers is from 1.67 to 3.8(m/s). It is
by 5”x4” propeller can be seen in Fig. 5.
crucial to take care of the fact that propellers should not
interfere with each other. This can be seen in Fig.6.

Fig.6. Cut Plot of airflow between the propellers at 28,800RPM

Fig.5. Thrust for propeller 5x4 (inch)
Due to the large interference in the airflow between the
4. UAGV Analysis Related To Propeller propellers at the maximum angular velocity, the throttle is
restricted to 80% i.e. 23040 RPM in order to maintain
stability. If 5V voltage is applied to rotor, rotation
In the designing of the UAGV’s frame, the propeller size
generated is 9000 RPM the airflow around the propeller is
is determined by keeping the distance between the rotors
shown in Fig.7.
in mind. The thrust generated by the rotors will be At 9000 RPM the air in-between two propellers has a
dependent on the propeller’s size and the angular velocity velocity of about 20% of maximum air velocity at the
given to them. The variations in the air flow cause an

28
chord line of the propeller. At the 28800 RPM the
interfering velocity is much larger. Exorbitant angular
velocity or oversize of propellers can cause large value of
velocity of air. Thrust of the rotor and also the
aerodynamic characteristics [14] are the parameters
affected by the velocity interference in the flow field
shown in the results. This when compared to the velocity
of 9000 RPM , the produced air velocity was 20% smaller
than its maximum, and thus it could be observed that air
velocity produced by rotation of each propeller is not
affecting the thrust and aerodynamic of the other. For
better visualisation of flow of air particles around the
propeller, flow was computed using Solidworks Flow Fig. 8.b Flow simulation around propeller for 9,000
Simulation for angular velocity of 9000 RPM shown in RPM (Top View)
Fig.8.a and Fig.8.b and for angular velocity of
28800 RPM as shown in Fig.9.a and Fig.9.b.
Choosing smaller size of propeller which operates on very
low amount of voltage reduces the disturbances generated
by the propeller and hence decreases the thrust generated.
Thrust of value 4.063 Newton will be generated by using
Rpm of value 9000 and a voltage supply of 5 volts.
Variable thrust and pitch of propeller are some other
parameters affecting the motion of airflow and can be
evaluated using computational method [15].

Fig. 9.a Flow simulation around propeller for 28,800

RPM (Top View)

Fig.7. Cut Plot of airflow between the propellers at 9,000 RPM

Fig. 9.b Flow simulation around propeller for 28,800

RPM

5. Conclusion

Fig. 8.a Flow simulation around propeller for 9,000 In this paper, a modified body frame model has been
RPM suggested for the quadcopter that makes it capable of
travelling on the ground in addition to the air flight even
in the case of upside doen landing. It was observed that
the proposed design gives this add on feature without
compromising on any of the predefined flight parameters
of the quadcopter. In this work, Solidworks software was
used to design the body frame of the UAGV. The
specification of propeller and rotor used has good rigidity
and also size compatible. The total weight of the UAGV
is 393.91(gram).The parameter values generated by 5”x4”
propeller based on the specification of the motor used are
the generated torque can be calculated which is
1,800(RPM/V), corresponding maximum voltage used is

29
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