New Cyclops 3 metre UAV/FPV Camera Platform

[scott cuppello]

I thought some of you guys may be interested in this very latest UAV/FPV airframe from Asia-Tech, who are based in the US but ship the aircraft directly from China where they are manufactured. John sent me one over as I was really interested and impressed with the concept, it's early days and as yet no instructions are written so this is a bit of a beta test, so please bear with me!

UAV and FPV airframes are often a compromise in terms of efficiency/payload and practicality, it's an exciting time as airframes play catch up with the ever increasing technical capability and complexity of the various autopilot and camera systems. One of the latest designs is the Cyclops, there are two versions, the EPO and the more serious end composite versions, both are an impressive 3 metre span and it's the EPO version that I will be building. The concept of both of these aircraft is to offer a combination of efficient airframe.....so high aspect ratio wings with flaps and an aerodynamically clean profile for long flight times......with decent payload capability, hence clear front camera dome and clear "shoot down" window built into the fuselage and finally practicality, so EPO construction with extensive CF & ply reinforcing, easy access hatch, quick removable plug in wings, and finally capability to land on either tarmac or grass courtesy of skids and a front landing wheel.

The thing that struck me as soon as I started to dry fit everything was just how well thought out the Cyclops is, there is plenty of scope for modding (for payload) if need be but in standard trim, it would be fair to say that it has been designed around standard FPV equipment and the inevitable Go-pro camera's, it can accept a wide range of power trains and batteries ranging from 4s to 6s! The 6s choice is interesting as it uses essentially a multi-rotor 40mm motor and a 12" prop, this means ultra low amp draw at cruising speed offering in excess of 1 hour flight times from a single 5000mAh 6s pack which fit's the pod no problem at all. Now, having said all that, I will be using 4s as I have plenty of 5000mAh packs for other airframes. The initial and most complex part of the build is to build the centre pod and central wing section, for strength, this becomes a single piece once completed, so this is the time to mod if you intend to use something other than a Go-pro, OSD Camera and/or the common Canon Point and shoot camera's. As you can see from these photo's of the early stages of assembly, there will be more to come shortly as I decide exactly what the Cyclops will be carrying and how it will be configured.

www.asiatechdrones.com

Cyclops-E (EPO Foam) Specifications and Performance

Cruise Speed ~ 30 knots
Max speed ~ 68 knots
Stall speed @4.8 lbs ~ 14 knots
Climb Rate > 2000 ft/min
Wingspan ~ 101.5 in
Wing area ~ 602 sq in
Fuselage Length ~ 48 in
Configuration options included in kit: T Tail & V Tail, Belly Wheel
Materials: EPO Foam - Wings, Fuselage and Tail; Carbon Fiber - Tail boom, Wing spars and Tail support components; Plywood - Internal structure & support; Wood, Plastic – Misc. parts.

[scott cuppello]

So far, the pod halves are not glue'd together, this is one of the nice things about how the Cyclops goes together, you can check everything in terms of power train and equipment in terms of weight distribution before you are committed. You will see the one mod I have made to the pod so far and that is the addition of an exhaust vent, there is a cooling lnlet hole in the nose just under the dome, the exhaust is supposed to be the CF boom, however, the hole at the other end of the boom (which is for the elevator/rudder leads) is just too small in my opinion, I suspect there won't be much need for cooling given how low the cruising amps will be, however, in the climb we could be pulling enough amps to at least get the ESC warm and the other really important consideration is the inevitable result of allowing positive pressure to build in the pod.......loosing the canopy.

So, it's on with the wings, the factory has decided that the overlap of the CF main spars is not sufficient and has beefed it up on their current stock, they have also modded the central ply former so that the main spar passes through it at 2 points, both valid mods for those carrying bundles of FPV gear and big batteries for those not-legal-in-the-UK out of sight FPV flights......but I am doing none of those things......no, really, I'm not.....so I decided the wing spar is good enough for me.

What I did mod was the 2 smaller spars by "filling" them with CF rod and as you can see, I have also used a mixture of CF rod and CF strip to add rigidity to the wing and control surfaces, I have tested enough EPO models for factory's with high-aspect ratio wings to know just how un-predictable they can be and as much as I am trying to keep things stock, this is not worth doing at this stage as far as I am concerned, other guys are not adding anything to their wings, so it will be interesting to compare.

Edited By scott cuppello on 11/02/2014 09:23:41

[scott cuppello]

The wings are now complete and there was a few observations to be made, firstly the hardware which I have to confess, I have only used around half of, it's no better or worse than the usual stuff supplied with foam kit's from China and I am sure will do the job fine but as is the case 95% of the time, it can be improved on, the other minor thing was the servo pockets for the flaps......why do so many designers arrange these pockets in the same configuration as the ailerons? Needless to say I had to cut the pockets (which is clearly no big deal) in order to fit the servo's so that they operate in the same direction, no biggie but it's a curious approach....designers take note! The end result is that the wings are really stiff now completed, a 3 metre foamy would be asking for trouble if it was not done well but I can honestly say that I have seen composite wings that are not as rigid as these.

So, next was the empennage, the Cyclops rather neatly comes with a choice of T-tail and V-tail, they are bagged seperately with their own hardware and mounts and so can be interchanged at any point. I have opted initially for the T-tail, main motivation for this being that the Cyclops will used for still shots in "stabilised" mode and I suspect there will be less pitch change with the T-tail. The tail has been really well designed with extensive use of round and square CF rod, assembly is very straightforward and as you can see, the ultra-stiff square uprights in the vertical stabilizer hold the assembly together. The servo wires very neatly sit behind the square rods and feed down the CF Boom via the neat looking mounting bracket, which comes complete with a skid. I have added a fixed tailwheel (and much larger wingtip skids) to the rear skid as this will give me the option of soft and hard surface landings (the kit comes with a nosewheel)......very handy! The only odd thing is the molding for the servo pockets which I suspect were designed with a specific servo type/make in mind, needless to say the type I have used did not fit at all so once again, the pockets had to be cut out, UAV/FPV kit's need modding, especially as everybody is using very different equipment, so not really a criticism, more an oberservation.

Now the wings and tail are complete, we can configure the equipment/battery layout, unlike a lot of other airframes, the fuselage pod at this stage is still in 2 halves so we can mock up the final configuration without being committed, the battery will sit over the C of G point and so will not influence this much, main thing now is the camera's, RX and APM, let the fun begin!

[scott cuppello]

Much progress has now been made but the first thing was to decide on the final configuration with C of G in mind, with such a long tail and large empannage it was clear straight away just how "tail heavy" (desirable for FPV/UAV's) the Cyclops is so the configurations I have ended up with are front mounted Go-Pro Black 3 and 10,000mAh (2 x 5000mAh) 4s packs OR "shoot-down" Sony NEX 6 with a single 4s pack......impressive stuff, especially when you bear in mind that flying weight is 2.5kg max ("dry" airframe weight is 1.5kg) so one thing is for certain......duration is going to be excellent, as well as the quality of the images/video!

I have not fitted any type of FPV set up in there for now, my Cyclops is equipped with an APM 2.6 which lives in the rear of the fuselage pod with the 60A ESC and 5A UBEC (see earlier images)....the APM ideally wants to be placed directly over the C of G point so this has worked out quite nicely. Motor is a Turnigy SK 840kv 35-48 Outrunner......nothing to do with my ex-HK status.....I know the factory owner, great guy, great motors....prop choice will be 11-12" and power in the order of 700-800w, I am expecting cruise amps to be really low (as little as 2-3 amps on a calm day) as it's clear the Cyclops is going to be efficient.....even without that dome up front!! Yes, I have decided not to use the dome, more of an FPV thing...this is no reflection (sic) on the quality of the 2 x supplied domes, it's just that the footage I have seen on You-Tube has been less than convincing, regardless of the aircraft used. Also, the Go-pro cases are as tough as old boots.....important when the camera is worth more than the platform........it also makes for a versatile set up.

The APM has been set up and ground tested, we are balanced, built and ready to go.....all we need now is some weather!!

[WolstonFlyer]

Very interesting review and build so far Scott.

It is a nice looking model, loads of room under the canopy!

[scott cuppello]

Posted by WolstonFlyer on 20/02/2014 18:08:36:
Very interesting review and build so far Scott.

It is a nice looking model, loads of room under the canopy!

Yeah, suprising amount of room for a pod/boom design, initially I thought it was going to be a wee bit tight but as is so often the way.......I was wrong! I think it's going to be a great camera platform.

[scott cuppello]

Well I am pleased to say that we now have finally had a decent flying day, we have been able to test! The Cyclops performed well with the expected maiden flight niggles quite minimal. Conditions were sunshine but ambient temp of only 6 c, one of those crisp winter days that have been so rare here of late! Windspeed was around 6kt initially, raising to around 10kt as the morning progessed.

The maiden flight was relatively brief as it was a trim and shakedown and we landed after around 20 minutes, during that time I performed a stall test:

Stall is good, not suprisingly the Cyclops will drop a wing if it is pushed (full up-trim, no flaps, no power, stall was not induced until basically 5-0mph) but recovers in less than a wings-length.

Trim was pretty well drama free, it required some elevator up trim initially (I'll come back to this) and a fair amount of aileron trim (not suprising for a 3 metre foam wing), control surfaces were all at 100% throw. The aircraft is nicely balanced and with all control surfaces feeling quite responsive, the rudder is excellent and does not induce much pitch change, so it's a nice flier!

Off power glide is excellent, and this is where the earlier elevator trim changes were cancelled out as I started to use the flaps thoughout the flight, I performed a dead stick landing from around 200ft and quite a way out and was really pleased with how well the Cyclops performed, no drama at all and I always felt in control.

Flight 2 gave us the magic numbers, the flight was 40 minutes duration and that was 98% under power, cruise figures varied due to the wind yielding approx 3.5A/33mph down-wind to 7A/25mph upwind (motor being 35/48 SK 840kv, prop 11x7 which I turned out to be a good choice I think and 4s packs)........I used this time to photograph some fields in order to assess flood damage from the wettest winter since recored began and was impressed with the images, the file sizes are huge so I have attached just one image that was heavily cropped just to give you an idea.

Problems? Pretty minor, basically the front wheel is too small, I have changed it out from the supplied 35mm to 40mm (which can be just squeezed in) O/E wheel gives 2 potential problems, firstly mine did not want to ROG due to negative incidence when sat on the ground and also on landing, the underside (including the the camera window) have been scratched, the boom must be flexing slightly on landing, which is no suprise, anyway, the larger wheel I think is a must.

To sum up, the Cyclops is excellent, I can tell that there is tones more to come from it and I think if you are used to flying gliders, you are likely to get the best from it in terms of efficiency/flight times (flaps really do need to be set up on a rotary dial not a switch) it is not difficult to fly at all, it is stable and efficient (good indicator here was the very close relationship between airspeed and throttle opening/amps, which were very linear) handles cross winds with ease, has nicely harmonised control surfaces and is just a joy to fly in manual mode, some existing APM parameters were used to set up FBWA/stabilized mode flights and they worked really well.

On a final note, I am pleased to say that the wvUAVc team (of which I am member).......a project dedicated to developing a cost effective UAS to help Rangers (initially) in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, protect Black Rhino and other endangered species from poachers.......will be testing the Cyclops in SA next month after they were given an airframe by Asiatech.