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Sporobey / Sparrow FPV drone

Serial production of the Sparrow FPV drone, designed by the Novosibirsk Design Bureau "Spectrum" to destroy armored vehicles, would begin in October 2023. Andrey Bratenkov, executive director of the Spectr Engineering design bureau, told TASS 29 September 2023. “We have received a conclusion on the successful results of official tests of the Sparrow FPV drone and the communication repeater for unmanned aerial vehicles Oblachko in the special operation zone. It was decided to mass produce our products for the needs of the Northern Military District from October of this year,” Bratenkov said. According to him, data on the number of products that will be supplied to Russian troops is not disclosed.

“The weight of the ammunition is 500 grams, it is capable of penetrating armor up to 200 millimeters. According to the characteristics of the Sparrow, it is like a mini Lancet. The first batch of drones and ammunition has already been transferred to the Russian military,” the agency’s interlocutor said. The drone weighs 1300 grams.

The Sparrow's flight range is up to 5 kilometers. Another advantage of the new FPV drone is its low cost. The UAV is compact, small in size, its length is only 23 centimeters. “A person can carry about 10 of these drones without straining too much,” added Bratenkov.

The Cloud communication repeater is used at non-standard frequencies and ensures the operating range of the Sparrow FPV drone at distances of more than 5 km. The repeater also allows the UAV operator to be in cover during combat work. The distance between the repeater and the operator can reach 300 m, which provides additional protection for the operator and the crew as a whole.

For a quadcopter to fly, it must be capable of three different types of movement: vertical movement, lateral movement, and rotational movement. Based on Newton’s third law, each of these can be achieved using the quadcopter’s four propellers.

When the propellers spin, they push air down. Similar to a helicopter, pushing the air down is the action in Newton’s third law of motion. The reaction is a force, called lift, which pushes the quadcopter up. Each of the propellers will create lift, and the total lift for the quadcopter will be the sum of the four propellers’ lifts. The total force of the lift must be stronger than the force of gravity for the quadcopter to take off. Once in the air, the quadcopter can hover with no vertical movement by having the forces of lift and gravity equal.

When the force of lift acts straight upward, the quadcopter moves vertically. But, when lift acts at an angle, it can also move laterally. This is because part of the force of the lift is upward and part of it is to the side, resulting in lateral movement that can be from side-to-side or forward and backward.

Lateral movement occurs by varying the speed of the propellers. Increasing the speed of the two propellers on one side of the quadcopter and/or decreasing the speed of the two propellers on the other side creates uneven amounts of lift on the two sides. The lift created on the side with the faster spinning propellers is greater than the lift created on the opposite side. The result is that the quadcopter moves in the direction of the side where less lift is created.

The final type of movement happens when the quadcopter rotates. This type of movement relies on a force called torque, a twisting force that causes rotation. When a propeller spins, this force is produced. And, according to Newton’s third law of motion, an equal and opposite force is produced as well.

First person view (FPV) technology for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provides an immersive experience for pilots and enables various personal and commercial applications such as aerial photography, drone racing, search and rescue operations, agricultural surveillance, and structural inspection.

When piloting a UAV remotely for such applications, avoiding collisions with obstacles is a fundamental requirement. This requires the FPV video feed to be adapted such that the pilot is able to recognize the obstacle with sufficient time to stop the UAV before collision. The performance of existing FPV systems vary considerably in the quality of the video being transmitted, as well as the delay between the capture device and display.

UAV FPV systems that are commercially available also have their shortcomings; for instance, they do not sense and adapt to the channel conditions. The DJI FPV system is a popular commercial option, which provides two video modes - low latency and high video quality, but it is not adaptive, i.e., the system does not switch automatically between these modes as a function of the channel conditions. Digital FPV video transmitters such as Connex Prosight HD (designed for drone racing) or Insight SE employ fixed video resolutions, up to 720p and 1080p respectively, and are also not adaptive.