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Quadcopter Mechanics
Flight Mechanics
In order to learn how to control a quadcopter, you'll need to
learn a bit about quadcopter mechanics - how quadcopters fly by
adjusting rotor speeds. Quadcopters have different flight
mechanics than conventional aircraft such as airplanes and
helicopters. They are Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL)
aircraft similar to helicopters; however their attitude and flight
mechanics are vastly different. Helicopters use two rotors, one
main rotor that provides lift and attitude changes to pitch and
roll, and one stabilizer tail rotor. The tail rotor is used for
stabilizing the aircraft against torque forces from the main rotor
and to control yaw. Quadcopters, and other multi-rotor aircraft
rely on four or more rotors that act together to tilt the entire
aircraft to perform pitch and roll changes. The motors are
controlled by the on board flight controller while analyzing the
current attitude using one or more sensors and pilot controls.
The steeper of the tilt angle, the faster the aircraft will travel in
that direction. This must be balanced with stability as well; too
steep of an angle and the aircraft can flip and crash. If the angle
isn't large enough, then the aircraft can move too slowly. This
attitude change is accomplished by the flight controller
commanding the motors with less thrust and the opposite motors
with more thrust, which will be discussed in further detail
shortly.
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Flight Orientations
Because quadcopters are symmetrical, they can fly in two
orientations, plus (+) and x orientation. With plus orientation,
the front of the quadcopter is one of the motor booms, while x
orientation the front of the quadcopter is two motor booms. This
will change the motor out equations slightly as you will see later
on in the post.






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Axis Representation



The coordinate system used is the same for each of the plus
and x flight orientations. The aircraft flies forward and back
along the x axis, left and right along the y axis, ascends and
descends along the z axis.

Pitch is a rotation around the y axis, which controls
forward/back flight along the x axis. Roll is a rotation around
the x axis, which controls left/right flight along the y axis. Yaw
is a rotation around the z axis which turns the aircraft left or
right changing its heading and direction the aircraft flies in.
Attitude Changes


Plus Flight Orientation X Flight Orientation
Images used from the Aeroquad open source project
(www.aeroquad.com)
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The flight controller changes the aircraft's attitude by
commanding the motor thrusts according to the pilot's controls
from the transmitter. Quadcopters use a similar principle as
helicopters for rotor stabilization and yaw control. Each
alternating rotor is clockwise, then counterclockwise. Motor 1 in
the pictures above spins clockwise, while motor 2 spins
counterclockwise, motor 3 spins clockwise, and motor 4 spins
counterclockwise. This counter rotation compensates for torque
and gives the quadcopter the ability to control yaw rotation
around the z axis. As the motors are spinning in alternating
clockwise/counterclockwise rotation, they need proper
propellers that can provide thrust below the propeller while in
clockwise or counterclockwise rotation. Otherwise, if the
propellers were providing thrust in the same direction, two will
push air down, while the other two will pull air up. This also has
led to another name for these propellers - pushers and pullers
which depend on the way they're rotating in order to push air
down or pull air up.

In order to execute attitude changes in the Plus Orientation:

Pitch Down (forward flight):
Motor 1 decreases thrust
Motor 3 increases thrust

Pitch Up (back flight):
Motor 1 increases thrust
Motor 3 decreases thrust

Roll Left (left flight):
Motor 2 increases thrust
Motor 4 decreases thrust
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Roll Right (right flight):
Motor 2 decreases thrust
Motor 4 increases thrust

Yaw Left (turn left):
Motors 2 and 4 increase thrust
Motors 1 and 3 decrease thrust

Yaw Right (turn right):
Motors 2 and 4 decrease thrust
Motors 1 and 3 increase thrust


In order to execute attitude changes in the X Orientation:

Pitch Down (forward flight):
Motors 1 and 2 decrease thrust
Motors 3 and 4 increase thrust

Pitch Up (back flight):
Motor 1 and 2 increase thrust
Motor 3 and 4 decrease thrust

Roll Left (left flight):
Motors 2 and 3 increase thrust
Motors 1 and 4 decrease thrust
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Roll Right (right flight):
Motors 2 and 3 decreases thrust
Motors 1 and 4 increases thrust

Yaw Left (turn left):
Motors 2 and 4 increase thrust
Motors 1 and 3 decrease thrust

Yaw Right (turn right):
Motors 2 and 4 decrease thrust
Motors 1 and 3 increase thrustThe flight controller uses the
following motor out equations to control the motors
depending on
the pilot controls:

Plus Orientation:
o Motor 1 = throttle + pitch + yaw
o Motor 2 = throttle - roll - yaw
o Motor 3 = throttle - pitch + yaw
o Motor 4 = throttle + roll - yaw

X Orientation:
Motor 1 = throttle + pitch + roll - yaw
Motor 2 = throttle + pitch - roll + yaw
Motor 3 = throttle - pitch - roll - yaw
Motor 4 = throttle - pitch + roll + yaw
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Pilot controls change from positive/negative to change
direction, when used in these equations the thrust
increases/decreases depending on the value read by the receiver.
Motor out equations and attitude configurations will differ
depending on motor positioning and
clockwise/counterclockwise rotating order on different
quadcopters.








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