Y6 Multirotor Platform
There are already a number of professional grade multicopter UAV systems available in the market today. However highly developed and sophisticated they are, most of them still suffer from some general drawbacks. Nearly all of them grew out of aerial video ideas and a traditional pendulum style payload arrangement. Nobody seems to have recognised one of the first rules of rotary wing aircraft in general, that the closer the centre of gravity is to the main rotor, the more maneuverable, wind resistant and predictable the aircraft is. Hanging your payload under a “cross and bucket” construction effectively kills this concept.
In our case the main rotor part is made up of six individual motors that still define a central plane, where most of the weight should be. For purely optical reasons the camera (visible light, infrared, thermal, still or video, doesn't matter) should also be as close to the COG as possible.
All rotary wing aircraft projects are plagued by vibration issues, and especially the dreaded jello effect in recorded video materials. Other payloads are also sensitive to vibration, so dealing with this from the very beginning of the design process is crucial. Our frames are made up of two separate layers, one for the powertrain, the other for the payload with special damping links between them. Because most payloads are fairly light compared to the vehicle, you need additional weight to activate even the softest vibration damping materials. Our way of dealing with this is simply fixing the payload to the same rigid frame as the heavy batteries. This creates two separate subsystems, both extremely strong and rigid by themselves, but isolated from each other by a special set of non-rubber based vibration absorbing blocks.
Most manufacturers also try to push a single design for a multitude of diverse payloads, which is simply not practical. We have developed a number of payload/airframe/powertrain/IMU combinations for various special purposes, because we are able to redefine and manufacture completely new designs and combinations within weeks. The featured Y6 configuration is already available in a number of sizes and power packages that could be used from small optical, thermal to large DSLR cameras, or speciality HD video applications and other surveillance payloads (RF surveillance, direction finding).
Learning to fly them is a breeze, the various stabilization and autopilot functions make the whole experience much less of a nervous issue than you can imagine. Position / altitude / direction hold is part of the basic package, together with waypoint based autopilot flights, camera platform stabilization, video downlink and telemetry. What's more, we can provide custom designed ground control stations tailored to your specific operation. Set-and-forget functions make it possible to keep the aircraft in one single place in the sky without touching the remote. Just concentrate on operating the camera if you want to, the aircraft stays there, where you've left it. Use separate crew for operating the craft and the camera, or be it one single person, it's up to you. There are already good simulation and training platforms available, so you will know what to expect and do, even before you unpack your gear.
Available frame sizes: 600mm - 1400mm (axis to axis distance)
Available powertrain: 5000 - 16000g of total thrust
Payload capacity: 0.5-4kg (5kg as current absolute maximum)
Endurance: max. 20-40 minutes, currently, mainly depending on payload weight
Max. ground speed >100km/h
AUW: 2.5-12kg
