ASAP 360 Unlimited Blog

An important aspect of building your own drone is powering your flight controller. Failure to do this properly could result in smoke coming out of your drone, or even worse, a mid-flight failure that damages more than just your flight controller. There are four main methods you can use to power your flight controller: directly from a battery, using an ESC (electronic speed controller), a voltage regulator, or a power module. In this blog, we will discuss each method.

While the wings and engine of an aircraft are paramount for its ability to fly, there are also many other aircraft parts and structures that assist in increasing aerodynamic efficiency and flight characteristics. One force that acts against the velocity of an aircraft is drag, and it is a type of friction that acts as an opposing force to an object moving through a fluid. For aircraft, drag can affect the aerodynamics of surfaces, often affecting lift and airspeed. With an aircraft structure known as a fairing, however, a smoother outline can be achieved in order to reduce form and interference drag.

When designing aircraft seals and insulators serve as crucial components that may heavily affect the performance and safety of flight operations. Although seals and insulating materials may serve similar areas of an aircraft and share certain characteristics and features, both types of aircraft parts serve their own unique and important roles for assemblies. With seals and insulators both serving to increase safety and performance with their implementation within aircraft, having a basic understanding of each can be very useful when procuring or maintaining parts.

As the generation of lift is paramount to the ability of an aircraft to fly, it can seem counteractive to mitigate it. Despite this, destroying lift can be very useful in a variety of situations to benefit the pilot and their control over the aircraft. To reduce lift in a controlled way, pilots rely on wing spoiler devices. Coming in the form of plates placed on the top surface of wings, such devices can be extended into the airflow to create a stall.

While much investment has been put into advancing the speed capabilities of aircraft over the years with higher engine thrust and refined structures, improving the technology that provides speed reduction has been just as important to aviation engineers. Whether slowing the aircraft down for a descent or coming to a full stop once on the ground, a number of devices and systems must work together in order to reduce the speed of an aircraft during operations as needed. With the use of spoilers and brakes, pilots can harness the forces of drag and aerodynamics to efficiently and safely reduce the speed of their aircraft during flight and ground procedures.

A proximity sensor is a type of sensor that replaces contact detection methods such as limit switches. Proximity sensors aim to detect an object without actually contacting it. It is able to detect the movement information and presence information of the object via electrical signals. It uses the displacement sensor’s sensitivity to an approaching object to recognize the proximity of the object and subsequently output the corresponding switch signal. Because of this, proximity sensors are commonly referred to as proximity switches. This blog will discuss proximity sensors in detail, as well as their application in aircraft landing systems.

In order to efficiently and successfully achieve lift and adjust the orientation of an aircraft for flight, the aerodynamic forces acting upon the airplane must be manipulated. In early aircraft, turning was often conducted through the warping of the aircraft wings, though this method proved to be inefficient and could risk failure. In modern aircraft, pilots can now rely on aircraft parts such as ailerons, which are one of the primary flight controls of an aircraft that allow for the governing of the longitudinal axis (roll). In this blog, we will discuss what airplane ailerons are, as well as how they provide aircraft control to the pilot.

As the aviation industry moves towards more green initiatives to reduce fuel consumption, decrease carbon emissions, and save money on operating costs, engineers are finding new methods in aircraft design and components to further realize such an endeavor. Reducing the amount of fuel that an aircraft requires for flight is a crucial undertaking, as fuel serves as the largest cost for most aircraft operators. Whether civilian or military, the operation of aircraft can reach upwards of $10,000 a year per pound of the aircraft just in fuel costs. In this blog, we will discuss some of the main ways in which aircraft design is changing to reduce fuel consumption including reducing drag, finding new methods of wiring, designing new equipment, and engineering improved engines.

While aircraft have revolutionized our capabilities of long distance travel and interconnectedness, they are still vehicles containing many complex and sensitive components that must be protected to ensure reliability. With a multitude of systems and aircraft parts moving and functioning close together, high amounts of heat and friction is often produced and may lead to heavy damages if left unchecked. To mitigate such forces and to maintain smooth and efficient operation, lubricants are utilized.

The aerospace, aviation, and defense industries are constantly evolving to increase both performance and safety standards. Recent advances in technology include improvements to engines, propulsion units, wings, aerodynamics, and much more. Countless innovations have come to fruition in the past few years, and many more are waiting in the wings. This blog will explain six of the most exciting emerging aerospace technologies currently in development.