Omnicopter
Last updated
Last updated
An Omnicopter is a multicopter that can provide thrust in all directions (6 degrees of freedom). This allows it to move in any direction without having to tilt, and it can hover at an arbitrary tilt angle. All of this is achieved by arranging the motor positions and thrust axis in specific ways:
This build follows the original design from Brescianini, Dario, and Raffaello D'Andrea.
The components needed for this build are:
Electronics:
Flight controller: Holybro KakuteH7
Coupled with 2x Tekko32 F4 4in1 ESCs :::note You can select your own flight controller of choice, it just needs to support 8 DShot outputs. :::
GPS: ZED-F9P
GPS helix antenna :::note Any other GPS may work as well, however a helix antenna is expected to perform better for inverted flights. :::
Any RC receiver
An external Magnetometer. We used the RM-3100.
Telemetry link, e.g. WiFi
Propulsion:
Motors: 8x BrotherHobby LPD 2306.5 2000KV/2450KV/2650KV
3D Propellers: 2x HQProp 3D 5X3.5X3 3-Blade Propeller (Set of 4) or 2x Gemfan 513D 3-Blade 3D Propeller (Set of 4)
Battery: we used a 6S 3300mAh LiPo. Make sure to check the dimensions so it fits the frame.
Battery strap
Print the 3D parts :::note The orientation of the corner pieces matters. You will notice if it's wrong when the angles of the rods are not correct. :::
Cut the rods
Test that it all works by connecting the frame pieces together:
Place the motors as far out as possible, without the propellers touching the rods.
Solder the peripherals to the flight controller. We used the following assignments:
ESCs: the 2 ESCs can be connected directly to the two connectors of the KakuteH7. To avoid conflicts we removed the power pin (right-most pin) from one of the connectors.
Telemetry to UART1
GPS to UART4
Remarks:
Make sure the magnetometer is placed away from power. We ended up placing it to the bottom of the center-piece with a 4cm padding styrofoam.
Put some tape on the barometer (without taping the opening!) to avoid any influence from light.
We did not glue the frame. It is certainly advisible to do so after initial test flights, but it might work without.
First, configure the ESCs to 3D mode (bidirectional). We had issues with the stock ESC settings in 3D mode: when trying to switch direction, a motor sometimes did not start anymore until the ESC was rebooted. So we had to change ESC settings.
To do so, you can use Betaflight on the flight controller and then use pass-through mode and the BL Heli suite (make sure there is an airframe with 8 motors configured in Betaflight). These are the settings:
In particular:
set the Motor Direction to Bidirectional Soft
increase the Rampup Power to 100% (this is conservative and might reduce efficiency)
:::note Make sure the motors do not overheat with the changed settings. :::
Select a generic multicopter airframe
Use an arming switch, do not use stick arming
Select DShot as output protocol on all eight outputs
This file contains all the relevant parameters.
There is an omnicopter simulation target in Gazebo Classic:
Some general remarks:
The hover throttle is about 30%.
The flight time is around 4-5min. This could probably be improved a bit by using larger propellers.
RC to UART6
Configure the motors according to this: We used the following convention: the motors are facing the direction of where the axis points to. The spinning direction matches the direction of positive thrust (moving the motor slider up). Make sure to use the right props, as there is a CCW and a CW version.
