Drone simulation for the airframe, rotors and electronics
Understand the thrust, drag and downwash of your drone, how hot its motors and electronics run, and how the airframe vibrates and survives hard landings, while mass and layout are still open.
On a drone, every gram and every watt is contested. Arms long enough to keep the rotors apart add mass and flexibility. Downwash striking the arms and body costs thrust. Motors and speed controllers are cooled by the same air that lifts the aircraft, so their temperatures depend on the flight condition as much as on the load. Sealed electronics bays keep out rain and dust but also keep in heat.
More about drone simulation
Drone simulation looks at these questions together. Aerodynamic models give thrust and torque from the rotors, the download on arms and body, and the drag of the airframe and payload in forward flight. Thermal models follow heat from motors, controllers, batteries and processors into the air around them. Structural models give arm stiffness, natural frequencies set against rotor speeds, and the loads in the airframe and landing gear during hard landings and drops.
Rotor spacing, arm sections and enclosure layouts are best compared within one study, because a change to one usually moves the others. What comes back is a revised arm, mount or housing, with the results that justify it.
Typical aircraft: multirotor and hybrid VTOL drones for inspection, survey, agriculture, delivery and defence, plus ducted fan platforms, payload pods and ground support equipment.
What a drone study tells you
How much thrust is lost to the airframe?
The download on arms, body and payload from the rotor wake, and how rotor height, arm section and spacing change it.
Do the rotors interfere with each other?
Thrust and torque of each rotor with its neighbours running, for different spacings, overlaps and coaxial layouts.
What is the drag in forward flight?
Drag and pitching moment of the body, arms, gimbal and payload at your cruise speed and body tilt.
Will the motors and electronics stay cool?
Motor, controller, battery and processor temperatures at hover and climb power, in the warmest air you plan to fly in, with sealed or vented bays.
Is the airframe stiff enough?
Arm deflection and twist, and natural frequencies set against rotor speed and blade pass frequency, which drive vibration into cameras and flight controllers.
Will it survive a hard landing?
Loads and stresses in the landing gear, arms and battery mounts during hard landings and drops from the heights you specify.
What we model
Rotor aerodynamics
Rotating rotor regions giving thrust, torque and the wake, for open, ducted and coaxial rotors.
Airframe aerodynamics
Flow over the body, arms, landing gear and payload in hover and forward flight, with drag, lift and moments.
Motor and electronics cooling
Conjugate heat transfer through motors, speed controllers, power distribution boards and processors, cooled by rotor wash or fans.
Battery thermal behaviour
Pack temperatures over a flight profile and during charging, including the effect of the enclosure and any vents.
Stiffness and vibration
Static stiffness and modal analysis of arms, frames and mounts in the materials you use, with harmonic response to rotor forcing.
Landing and impact loads
Drop and hard landing cases for the airframe, gear, gimbal and battery, with non-linear contact where parts strike the ground.
Before you start
What to send us
- CAD of the airframe, arms, landing gear and payload (STEP or native)
- Rotor geometry, or the propeller make and model with its performance data
- All-up mass, centre of gravity and the flight conditions of interest
- Motor, controller and battery losses or ratings, and the hottest ambient
- Rotor speed range, and any vibration limits for cameras or sensors
- Landing and drop cases, and the material of each main part
Do you need the propeller geometry?
It gives the most detailed results. Without it, rotors can be represented by their measured thrust and torque, which still shows the download on the airframe and the flow over motors and electronics.
Can simulation help with vibration in camera footage?
Yes. Natural frequencies of the arms, frame and gimbal mount are compared with rotor and blade pass frequencies, and we show which stiffness or isolation changes move the modes clear of them.
Can you include the effect of wind?
Forward flight cases represent steady wind relative to the aircraft. Gusts add time-varying loads, which can be studied as transient cases where they matter for the structure.
Is the work only for multirotors?
No. Fixed-wing and hybrid VTOL aircraft raise the same thermal and structural questions, with wing and tail aerodynamics added.
Send us your drone
