Design and Experiment of a Passive Vibration Isolator for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

The advancement of sensor, actuator, and flight control technologies has increasingly expanded the possibilities for drone utilization. Among the technologies related to drone applications, the vibration isolator technology for payload has a significant impact on the precision of optical equipment in missions such as detection, reconnaissance, and tracking. However, despite ongoing efforts to develop vibration isolators to mitigate the impact of vibrations transmitted to optical equipment, research on drone-specific natural frequencies and payloads has been lacking. Consequently, there is a need for research on vibration isolators tailored to specific drone types and optical equipment payloads. This study focuses on exploring the correlation between the natural frequencies of drones and the weight of the payload, and proposes methods for developing and testing vibration isolators that consider both factors. To achieve this, the study measured the stiffness of vibration isolator rubbers and conducted cross-validation between random vibration tests and finite element method (FEM) analyses to verify the vibration reduction effects resulting from changes in the dynamic characteristics of vibration isolator rubbers. The rubber with a shore hardness of 70 exhibited relatively high damping and damping performance during random vibration tests. Additionally, it showed relatively high stability with only one resonance point measured within the operational frequency band. Through the findings of this study, a methodology for selecting vibration isolators for drones is proposed, aiming to enhance the stability of optical equipment.