1.

Fly-by-wire v/s Fly-by-optics

1.1 Fly-by-wire
Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires (hence the fly-by-wire term), and flight control computers determine how to move the actuators at each control surface to provide the ordered response. The fly-by-wire system also allows automatic signals sent by the aircraft's computers to perform functions without the pilot's input, as in systems that automatically help stabilize the aircraft.

1.1.1 Basic operation

Fly-by-wire systems are quite complex, but their operation can be explained in simple terms. When a pilot moves the control column (or sidestick), a signal is sent to a computer the signal is sent through multiple wires (channels) to ensure that the signal reaches the computer. A 'Triplex' is when there are three channels being used. The computer receives the signals, performs a calculation (adds the signal voltages and divides by the number of signals received to find the mean average voltage) and adds another channel. These four 'Quadruplex' signals are then sent to the control surface actuator, and the surface begins to move. Potentiometers in the actuator send a signal back to the computer reporting the position of the actuator. When the actuator reaches the desired position, the two signals (incoming and outgoing) cancel each other out and the actuator stops moving. Electronic fly-by-wire systems can respond flexibly to changing aerodynamic conditions, by tailoring flight control surface movements so that aircraft response to control inputs is appropriate to flight conditions. Electronic systems require less maintenance, whereas mechanical and hydraulic systems require lubrication, tension adjustments, leak checks, fluid changes, etc. Placing circuitry between pilot and aircraft can enhance safety. For example, the control system can try to prevent a stall, or it can stop the pilot from over stressing the airframe. The main concern with fly-by-wire systems is reliability. While traditional mechanical or hydraulic control systems usually fail gradually, the loss of all flight control computers could immediately render the aircraft uncontrollable. For this reason, most fly-by-wire systems incorporate redundant computers (triplex, quadruplex etc.), some kind of mechanical or hydraulic backup or a combination of both. A "mixed" control system such as the latter is not desirable and modern FBW aircraft normally avoid it by having more independent FBW channels, thereby reducing the possibility of overall failure to minuscule levels that are acceptable to the independent regulatory and safety authority responsible for aircraft design, testing and certification before operational service.

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1.1.2 Analog v/s Digital Systems

1.1.2.1 Analog System All "fly-by-wire" flight control systems eliminate the complexity, the fragility, and the weight of the mechanical circuit of the hydro mechanical or electromechanical flight control systems. Fly-by-wire replaces those with electronic circuits. The control mechanisms in the cockpit now operate signal transducers, which in turn generate the appropriate electronic commands. These are next processed by an electronic controller, either an analog one, or more modernly, a digital one. 1.1.2.2 Digital System A digital fly-by-wire flight control system is similar to its analog counterpart. However, the signal processing is done by digital computers and the pilots literally can "fly-via-computer". This also increases the flexibility of the flight control system, since the digital computers can receive input from any aircraft sensor (such as the altimeters and the pitot tubes. This also increases the electronic stability, because the system is less dependent on the values of critical electrical components in an analog controller.

1.2. Fly-by-optics
Fly-by-optics is sometimes used instead of fly-by-wire because it can transfer data at higher speeds, and it is immune to electromagnetic interference. In most cases, the cables are just changed from electrical to optical fiber cables. Sometimes it is referred to as "fly-by-light" due to its use of fiber optics. The data generated by the software and interpreted by the controller remain the same.

2. Difference between a quadrotor, quadshot and fixed wing aircraft

2.1 Quadrotor
A quadrotor, also called a quadrotor helicopter or quadcopter, is a multicopter that is lifted and propelled by four rotors. Quadrotors are classified as rotorcraft, as opposed to fixed-wing aircraft, because their lift is generated by a set of revolving narrow-chord airfoils. Unlike most helicopters, quadrotors generally use symmetrically pitched blades; these can be adjusted as a group, a property known as 'collective', but not individually based upon the blade's position in the rotor disc, which is called cyclic. Control of vehicle motion is achieved by altering the pitch and/or rotation rate of one or more rotor discs, thereby changing its torque load and thrust/lift
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characteristics. Compared to fixed wing aircraft they are highly manoeuvrable. Compared to conventional helicopters, with the large main rotor and tail rotor, the quadcopter is easier to fly, does not have the complex swash plate mechanism and is easier to model and control. There are several advantages to quadcopters over comparably-scaled helicopters. First, quadrotors do not require mechanical linkages to vary the rotor blade pitch angle as they spin. This simplifies the design and maintenance of the vehicle. Second, the use of four rotors allows each individual rotor to have a smaller diameter than the equivalent helicopter rotor, allowing them to possess less kinetic energy during flight. This reduces the damage caused should the rotors hit anything. For smallscale UAVs, this makes the vehicles safer for close interaction. Some small-scale quadrotors have frames that enclose the rotors, permitting flights through more challenging environments, with lower risk of damaging the vehicle or its surroundings.

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2.1.1 Flight Control

Each rotor produces both a thrust and torque about its center of rotation, as well as a drag force opposite to the vehicle's direction of flight. If all rotors are spinning at the same angular velocity, with rotors one and three rotating clockwise and rotors two and four counter clockwise, the net aerodynamic torque, and hence the angular acceleration about the yaw axis is exactly zero, which implies that the yaw stabilizing rotor of conventional helicopters is not needed. Yaw is induced by mismatching the balance in aerodynamic torques (i.e., by offsetting the cumulative thrust commands between the counter-rotating blade pairs). Angular accelerations about the pitch and roll axes can be caused separately without impacting the yaw axis. Each pair of blades rotating in the same direction controls one axis, either roll or pitch, and increasing thrust for one rotor while decreasing thrust for the other will maintain the torque balance needed for yaw stability and induce a net torque about the roll or pitch axes. This way, fixed rotor blades can be made to manoeuvre the quad rotor vehicle in all dimensions. Translational acceleration is achieved by maintaining a non-zero pitch or roll angle.

2.2. Quadshot
The Quadshot's four motors, advanced sensors, and software work together to allow vertical take-off, hovering, and flight in any direction - like a helicopter. At the flip of a switch, the Quadshot switches into airplane mode, and uses its wing to fly forward. The pilot can choose a beginner setting, with assisted, graceful banked turns, or an advanced mode for performing exciting aerobatics. Flipping the switch back to heli mode allows for pinpoint vertical landings. Quadshot is a novel aerial robotic platform with Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) capability. Highly dynamic manoeuvrability is achieved via a combination of differential thrust and aerodynamic surfaces (elevons). The relaxed stability, flying wing, tail-sitter configuration and Radio Controlled (RC) airframe is actively stabilized by on-board controllers in three complementary modes of operations, i.e. hover, horizontal flight and aerobatic flight. In hover mode the vehicle flies laterally, similar to a quadrotor helicopter. In horizontal mode it flies like an airplane to cover larger distances more rapidly and efficiently. 1. In hover (Flight Mode 1), with the Quadshot sitting on the landing feet and the lids towards you, imagine that it is helicopter with the nose pointed away from you. If a yaw right input is made, the helicopter nose will point to the right. If a yaw left input is made, the nose of the helicopter will point to the left. It is the same with the Quadshot.

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2. In forward flight (Flight Modes 2 & 3, and Flight Mode 1 when pitched over as described in Mode 1: Hover), the Quadshot wing should be thought of as an airplane wing, with the nose of the airplane towards the propellers, and the tail towards the landing feet. If a yaw right input is made, the Airplane nose yaws right and vice-versa.

2.3. Fixed Wing Aircraft

A fixed wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Aerospace engineers develop control systems for a vehicle's orientation (attitude) about its center of mass. The control systems include actuators, which exert forces in various directions, and generate rotational forces or moments about the aerodynamic center of
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the aircraft, and thus rotate the aircraft in pitch, roll, or yaw. For example, a pitching moment is a vertical force applied at a distance forward or aft from the aerodynamic center of the aircraft, causing the aircraft to pitch up or down.

Roll, pitch and yaw refer to rotations about the respective axes starting from a defined equilibrium state. The equilibrium roll angle is known as wings level or zero bank angle, equivalent to a level heeling angle on a ship. Yaw is known as "heading". The equilibrium pitch angle in submarine and airship parlance is known as "trim", but in aircraft, this usually refers to angle of attack, rather than orientation. However, common usage ignores this distinction between equilibrium and dynamic cases. A fixed-wing aircraft increases or decreases the lift generated by the wings when it pitches nose up or down by increasing or decreasing the angle of attack (AOA). The roll angle is also known as bank angle on a fixed wing aircraft, which usually "banks" to change the horizontal direction of flight. An aircraft is usually streamlined from nose to tail to reduce drag making it typically advantageous to keep the sideslip angle near zero, though there are instances when an aircraft may be deliberately "sideslipped" for example a slip in a fixed wing aircraft. Control action of aileron leads to roll, control action of elevator leads to pitch and control action of rudder leads to yaw.

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3. Makefile
Make is a UNIX utility program that updates files based upon the dependency rules listed in a makefile. If you have a C++ program that is separated into a number of .cc and .h files, you can use the make utility for more efficient program compilation. The make utility looks at a file called makefile to see the dependencies that exist among the modules of your program, and it recompiles only the modules that have been changed since the last compilation, or the modules that depend on other modules that have been changed. In order to use make for program compilation, you must first create a makefile for the program. Since the makefile is just a text file, you can use any text editor to create it. In its simplest form, a makefile contains rules of the following form: targetList: dependencyList commandList Where targetList is a list of target files and dependencyList is a list of files that the files in targetList depend on. commandList is a list of zero or more commands, separated by newlines, that reconstruct the target files from the dependency files As an example, let's look at the file interdependencies related to an executable file called myprog1. This file is built out of two object modules: main1.o and functions.o. If either file is changed, then myprog1 must be reconstructed by linking the files with the CC utility. Thus, one rule in your makefile should be myprog1: main1.o functions.o CC main1.o functions.o -o myprog1 The dependency for the object files must be stated in a similar manner. main1.o is built from two files, main1.cc and functions.h. If either file is changed, then main1.o must be rebuilt. Thus, the remaining rules in the makefile are main1.o main1.cc functions.h CC -c main1.c functions.o: functions.cc functions.h CC -c functions.cc

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