A Newly Designed Drone Tested in a Laboratory Environment

Drones, also known as Crewless Aircraft (CAs), are among the most versatile and rapidly advancing technologies of the modern era. Recently, this technology has found numerous applications in the transportation sector, including traffic monitoring and traffic engineering to enhance overall traffic flow and efficiency. Due to their non-linear characteristics and under-actuated design, CAs serve as an excellent platform for the study of control systems. There is continuous interest in hardware and software advancements to improve their fundamental control characteristics. This paper presents the outcomes of the SkyHawk project, which developed a proof-of-concept novel drone designed for enhanced efficiency. The project aims to explore various technologies related to the field of electrical engineering, including embedded systems engineering, power command and control for sensorless BLDC motors, electromagnetic compatibility engineering, control systems theory, and more. This is achieved by breaking down the drone’s systems into modules, each represented by its own printed circuit board, totaling five, along with auxiliary parts. These components work together to control a pair of sensorless BLDC motors mounted on servo pivots. The drone can be controlled either through modules connected to a personal computer using software developed for the SkyHawk project or through a specially designed remote control. Control diagrams and graphs are presented to demonstrate the hardware efficiency and control effectiveness.