Optimized Modular Design and Development of a Tilt-Rotor Bicopter Drone
2026-08-31 • Robotics
Robotics
AI summaryⓘ
The authors studied a special type of drone that can both hover like a helicopter and fly fast like an airplane. They used computer simulations to design the drone's structure and make sure it stays balanced and doesn’t break during different ways of flying. They also checked how much power the drone needs and how long it can fly. Finally, they built the drone and tested it to see if it worked like their simulations predicted.
tilt-rotorbicopterVTOLcenter of gravityneutral pointaerodynamicsstructural analysisthrustpower analysisflight controller
Authors
Saideep Verma, Nimisha Tatapudi, Akshay Arjun, Danwada Sharanya Sukka, Abhishek Sarkar, Joyjit Mukherjee
Abstract
Hybrid systems like tilt-rotor bicopter drones combine the beneficial characteristics of both fixed-wing and rotary-wing technology, enabling long endurance and VTOL capability. However, such drones also require an optimum design to ensure both static and dynamic stability. The modular design of a traditional bicopter is developed in this paper based on extensive analysis and in-depth structural and aerodynamic simulations. The structural analysis has been performed to ensure that the aircraft's structure withstands the stresses encountered during different flight modes. Controlling the relative positions of the Center of Gravity (CG) and Neutral Point (NP) is an essential aspect of the design, ensuring stability during hover and positive stability during forward flight. The thrust and power analyses have been conducted to assess the flight performance and endurance. After analysis, the drone has been developed, and flight tests with a basic flight controller were conducted to validate the performance metrics obtained in the simulation.