The drone industry is taking off. New, disruptive use cases keep emerging across industries, but the technology must improve to sustain growth. Drone motion control is one of the most important areas to address.
Drones already provide industrial users points of view and movements that would be otherwise impossible—everything from inspecting wind turbines and construction sites to flying above burning buildings or sites of hurricane devastation. However, imperfect motion control limits their utility. Nanotechnology, which deals with materials 100 nanometers or smaller, provides an answer.
Here are seven ways nanotech improves drone motion control:
1. Making gyroscopes more precise
Gyroscopes are an indispensable part of drone technology. Without precise orientation readings, drones can’t maneuver well, so the challenge lies in balancing gyroscope size with accuracy.
Nanotechnology helps by letting optical gyroscopes measure beams of light on a far smaller scale. Researchers in 2018 developed a nano-scale optical gyroscope that uses tiny light conduits to cut out noise and analyze smaller sample sizes more precisely. As a result, their device was 500 times smaller than leading traditional gyroscopes and 30 times as accurate.
Detecting microscopic changes helps drones adjust to even the smallest of influencing factors. This technology lets drones maintain balance and perform more elaborate and precise maneuvers in more conditions. Drone technology could then become far more versatile.
2. Making motors smaller
Nanotechnology also improves drone motion control by enabling smaller motors. While larger motors can deliver more power to a drone’s rotors, they also increase their weight, making them harder to move precisely. Nanotech can deliver comparable power in a smaller package, removing that obstacle.
Materials often behave differently on the nanoscale, becoming stronger, more flexible, or conducting electricity better. Engineers can use these materials to craft machines that are far more efficient and lightweight than their larger counterparts. For example, they could make motors that start and stop in milliseconds, which may be impossible on a larger scale.
As nanotech improves, drone motors will keep getting smaller without sacrificing power. These devices will then be able to maneuver along more planes of motion without awkward handling.
3. Reducing moving parts
Similarly, nanotechnology can remove moving parts from many drone components. For example, electric motor company Nanomotion has developed a miniature drone motor without moving parts using piezoelectric technology. The piezoelectric effect generates mechanical stress in the presence of an electric field, creating movement without other motion.
Eliminating moving parts from the equation improves drone motion control in two main ways. First, it removes weight from the motors, as machines will need fewer parts to accomplish the same task. Second, it reduces the risk of motion in the motors themselves affecting the motion of the rotors.
With fewer parts moving below a rotor, drones will have an easier time maintaining their position. They can also accelerate and decelerate more efficiently, letting drone operators maneuver them more precisely.
4. Maintaining optimal temperatures
Nanotech can also address less immediately evident problems that affect drone motion control. While heat may not seem directly related to motion control, it can have a surprisingly significant impact on it. Fluctuating temperatures cause thermal drift in mechanical components, leading to operational errors.
Nanotechnology can solve this issue by capitalizing on materials’ different properties in the nanoscale. Some nano-materials are more heat-tolerant or maintain their properties at different temperatures. Consequently, engineers can use them to create electrical and mechanical components with a lower thermal drift risk.
Other approaches use the piezoelectric effect. Piezoelectric controllers can respond to shifting temperatures and adjust accordingly, ensuring all components function as they should. With these systems, drones can move through extreme environments without affecting performance.
5. Accelerating response times
Latency is a significant part of drone motion control that nanotechnology can improve. Any delay between when an operator inputs a command and the drone performs it hinders the drone’s utility. Nanotech can reduce this latency, leading to more immediate feedback, which improves motion control.
Nanomaterials like graphene and carbon nanotubes can give antennas unique electromagnetic properties. This can make them more receptive to wireless signals, help them process signals faster, or extend their range. As these factors improve, drones will respond more quickly to input from their operators.
Nanotech can also make drone antennas receptive to different frequencies like millimeter waves. This versatility opens the door for new wireless options, some of which may deliver signals faster than others and improve response times.
6. Improving battery life
Nanotech can also improve drone motion control indirectly by impacting drone battery life. While some drones today can travel at 50 miles per hour, they can still only go so far before running out of battery. As battery levels drain, response times may also decline, and complex maneuvering could drain them further, prematurely ending flight.
Nanomaterials can extend battery life, letting drones accelerate and turn rapidly without draining their range. Graphene can increase batteries’ storage capacity and make them lighter, considerably extending their range. Even a difference of five minutes of flight time can make a drone far more useful for mapping or emergency response services.
Longer-lasting batteries will also reduce concerns over failing responses later in the flight. Drones can go longer without sacrificing power to antenna and processing units, maintaining quick response times.
7. Enabling novel control methods
Most drones today operate on traditional remote controls, but nanotech can unlock new opportunities. With more drone motion control methods, operators could control them more precisely.
Nanomaterials pave the way for electrodes that can detect signals like muscles flexing and translate them into commands. Some materials can even form noninvasive brain-machine interfaces, letting operators control drones with their minds in the future.
These novel control methods could make it far easier to make a drone do what an operator wants it to. They also open drone operation to a broader audience. For example, people with musculoskeletal disorders that hinder traditional hand operation could instead control drones from their minds.
Nanotech could revolutionize drone motion control
Drone motion control must improve for this technology to sustain its growth. Nanotechnology could be the best way forward.
Nanomaterials and nanoengineered machines unlock new possibilities in many areas of drone development. As this technology improves and drone companies capitalize on it, drones will reach their full potential sooner.
Emily Newton is a technical writer and Editor-in-Chief of Revolutionized. She researches and writes how technology is changing the industrial sector.