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5 Remarkable Facts About Mini Drones or Miniature Drones
MINIATURE DRONES A.K.A Mini drones are a sub class of unmanned aerial vehicles which are governed by their size as the name suggests mini drones are extremely compatible and are also suited to do various tasks where size becomes an important factor.
For example, many military missions require drones which suit to the terrain in which they are to be deployed; these mini drones are advantageous in areas where compactness is required as in for spying missions where the prime requirement of the drone is to remain unnoticed by the adversary.
1.MINI DRONES INTRODUCTION
Mini drones can be referred to drones which are small in size, drones which can reduce their size upon instruction or drones which are portable.
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2.PRIVILEGES OF BEING COMPACT
Compactness remains an important factor in all areas of engineering, the need for a better machine in terms of size increases on a habitual basis.
Size remains the single most important physical factor among all other characteristics as a compact machine scores in every possible way compared to a conventional machine. Smaller and efficient the drone is better the output and workability of the drone, this search for a highly compact drone made possible the mini drones which was a result of the contrivances of many drone experts from around the world.
These mini drones are capable of and are designed to work in such a way that they transcend conventional drones, these drones work similarly as their equivalents only in a superior way by superior we can outline the main attributes of these mini drones such as portability and their ability to not be seen by any adversary in covert operations.
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3.ENGINEERING OF MINI DRONES:
The success of any machine lies in the way it is engineered. Mini drones are not an anomaly to this, mini drones are engineered to perfection as these drones are tasked to work in exigent conditions, hence must be reliable and mustn’t fail in critical times.
The effect of such demands are clearly reflected in the way these mini drones are constructed.
They are built with materials having a very high strength to weight ratio and are able to withstand extreme conditions as well. The manufacturers apply nanotechnology as well in the construction of these mini drones.
These mini drones are designed to perform all the tasks their counterparts perform but in a very efficient way as they occupy very less space for operation.
The idea of engineering these mini drones was believed to have been developed in early 1990’s which also led to the rise of many practical issues in these mini drones, after much skepticism the leap towards engineering these mini drones took place.
A useful operational mini drone would need a lightweight, highly efficient engine with a power source having high energy density.
Initially, electric motors served the purpose of providing power requirements but their effectivity became questionable as the lithium batteries were marginal this demanded the development of new fuel cells.
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Another most intriguing option for providing propulsion as well as power was a button sized micro turbine engine made from silicon which proved to be a good material structural wise although the increased operational temperature questioned their integrity.
One more important problem lay in the control system for these mini drones as they needed to tolerate high wind turbulence as the normal drones and also the designers were forced to miniaturize navigation, communication, sensor systems and to make sure that one system didn’t interfere with another.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) dictated these works and ensured that the payload required to be carried by these mini drones would be no more than 15 grams.
4.MILITARY APPLICATION OF THESE MINI DRONES:
The primary objective for the idea was to make a flying machine capable of executing missions unnoticed and also in an effective way compared to regularly sized drones.
These mini drones were made to aid military personnel carry out their missions in a better way as these mini drones ranged from drones carried by infantry men or by man –portable UAV’s which can be launched like a man-portable-air-defense-system.
These mini drones also helped to execute sabotage missions due to their camouflage ability.
With further advancements there came better mini drones which were able to carry heavy payloads as well.
Special mention for this drone comes with an intriguing design of an insect sized mini drone which was superior to all the mini drones, these insect drones blended with their surroundings perfectly and required careful observation to distinguish it from regular insects.
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5. SPECIAL MENTION
Although there were several drones made by different countries over the span of time some mini drones require a special mention, they are
Stanford Mesi Copter
This drone was made by a team at Stanford University in the form of a 1 cm wide four rotor machine capable of being extremely agile and was even funded by NASA as these drones had a very low Reynolds number.
EADS “Tracker”
European EADS organization is developing a mini drone named the Tracker, which has a wide-span wing, twin booms for payload and a central pod with propellers. It has a weight of 7.5 kilograms, a span of 1.4 meters and an endurance of an hour.