How Drones Work

Accorrding to Merriam Webster Dictionary, "A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)--an aircraft that flies without a human pilot on board and is controlled by a remote operator or onboard computer." War drones come in many shapes and sizes as long as it can fly without a human pilot its practicallly a drone. We will dive into the many tools drones use in military applications but it is interesting to think of how far this technology has come in the past decade or two. They were almost irrelevant and now are a key force in any war today. He who can outdrone his opponent has taken the first step toward victory. "There should be a chapter (in Sun Tzu's the art of war) saying that if you have a decisive technology Advantage you can actually win with minimal casualties, to your side at least."-Elon Musk. I love this quote because it stresses the importance of the technological advantage.

Apologies in advance to any physics PHD's reading but I attempt to outline the basic physics or science of a drone specifically that of a quadcopter because its most common. Drones typically have 4 motors each in one corner. The most common motors are brushless. Electric brushless motors have stator which has 6, 12, or 24 spokes, each with copper wire wrapped tightly around creating an electro magnetic feild when electricity is ran through. The stator is typically made out of metal to enhance the magnetic field, provide heat resistance, and most important to be strong enough to hold its form. The stator has a cylindrical hole in the middle to hold ball bearings that the rod or bolt is put in so the stator stays in place on the ground. The reason there are 6, 12, or 24 spokes on the stator is because there are 3 copper wires that need to come out of the motor so each wire is wrapped around 1/3 of the spokes in a specific pattern in order to ensure efficentcy and functionality. Next is the casing which is connected to the bolt or rod that spins. The rod is able to spin because the casing has strong magnets attached that start to spin as soon as the electromagnets turn on.These 3 wires then go out to an electronic speed control which allows the computer to time the electromagnets to push the magnets in the desired direction at the desired speed. If this interests you can look into my project on Stardance called"3d Printed Brushless Motor" coming soon. 3-D Printed Brushless Motor

Flight once deemed the privelage of birds now seems common place but lets dive into how it works. Likely your familiar with what happens when you fill a baloon with air then let it go. The problem with this however is that we have a large container that holds air and controlling the path of the ballon is nearly impossible. This is where the airfoil comes in. Shaped like a shark fin designed to cut through the air an air foil is the sketch of the propeller before it is extruded. The propeller does not need a container of air like a ballon because it cuts through the air so fast and strong producing so much thrust that in some cases you get of the ground. A drone is able to convert electric energy through the motor into the propeller effieciently enough to take off and enjoy flight. Now are you familiar with Isaac Newtons second law of motion? An object in motion stays in motion untell acted upon by an equal or greater force. With this in mind if all of the propellers span the same way what do you think would happen? If you said fly and spin into the sun you would be right. This is why two propellers diagonal from eachother spin clockwise or counter clockwise. This allows the drone to have equal centrifugal force and not spin into oblivion.

The ESC is connected to all 4 motors and the flight controller or the brain of the drone. The esc can send more or less electricity to the motor each specific if it needs to turn go up or down or even can take into account if one motor is more effiecent then another. The esc is typically also connected to a capacitor and battery in order to get the electricity right to where its needed most. The flight controller is the brains for multiple reasons it is where you solder the rest of the components such as reciever, camera gear, or even another esc and flight controller stack. It is able to do all the computing and communications.

I hope most people are familiar with the concept of a camera but if not a camera uses lenses or sensors to capture something simular to what our eyes would see. Most drones have cameras which allow them to take photos or videos of places that humans could never reach. In war drones can film behind enemy lines or give alerts about troop and vehicle movement. Drones are mobile security cameras and allow their users to be able to see and even hear everything their opponent is doing. When paired with GPS drones can have easyily programmable routes which can be used for patrols or when an operator may not have range. Another common sensor on a drone would be the lidar radar. The lidar radar sends rapid pulses of laser and measures the time it takes to come back which can be used to make models or navigate in poor light conditions. Drones can use IR cameras to see better at night or detect people allowing an even wider range of versatility.

Hopefully after reading all of this your wanting to know a way to combat drones to protect you or those you love. Unforunately most of the most efficent or groundbreaking tech is classified because governments dont want their enemies to use them but I will cover what I can. My favorite is the Anti-Drone round. Anti-Drone rounds are simular to a shotgun shell because they spread but instead of right as they leave the barrel they fly around 50-100m then deploy all the projectiles. These are very effective and provide an entertaning youtube video if you need one. Another common tool is the jammer which flood the common siginals that drones use which then send them into a limp state rendering them useless. Which leads to the anti-anti-drone technology the fiber optic cable. Some drones have kilometers of cable which connect to the flight controller and cant be jammed. However if you can break the tooth floss like cable it will die. If you dont carry a pair of scissors on you, wrap your finger around the cable then yoink and it should break and hopefully not saw your finger off. One last strategy would be to throw a net or sheet over a drone which in theory limits the air and should tangle the motors. However some drones are also equipped agianst this so keep that in mind. Another tip would be to run if its too fast hide if it finds you then throw rocks at it. Anti-Drone Rounds