SOFAR and Auto-link: software tools that bridge the gap between multirotor drone design optimization and CAD1

Several types of tools are used to develop drones. Computer-aided design (CAD) is used for developing the drone geometry, and software such as ComQuest Venture’s Typhon UDX is used for aerodynamic analysis. Presently, both are used independently, and a user then manually bridges the gap between the analysis and the CAD to create a final aerostructure. This manual process can lead to long design times and information transfer errors. An automated design process that automatically selects parts from a database optimizes drone parts cost, while meeting key performance requirements could shorten the design time. This paper presents the Sensible Optimization for Aerial Robots tool for automatically minimizing drone systems’ cost using a commercial component database and linking it directly to CAD software. As drones become increasingly popular, this streamlining of the drone development process will reduce both the time and cost required to develop an optimal structure.