Remote control steering Considering a normal configuration of the airship like in the picture below:

we can control the machine by using two mobile surfaces: the orizontal and the vertical tail ( the orizontal one is for piching up and down and to increase the flight level, the vertical one is for direction left and right ). The power units are two electrical engines on both sides of the control cabin and are used to give movement.

What we need Referring to the configuration above we need: A battery pack. a radio transmitter device a radio receiver device an electronic speed controller two “servo” controls two engines and propellers.

what kind of battery?

There are 3 types of batteries but regarding to the low weight and high capability we should use the Li-po batteries.

The radio transmitter is a device that transform the flight intention of the pilot into electronic signals that the radio receiver can use.

The radio receivier device consist in a multi slot box in witch every other component must be connected; these are called channels. There is one channel for the speed controller and others for each servo that we use, one channel is used to energize the system. A micro receiver

The speed controller is a sophisticated system that controls the engine power.

The servos are electro-mechanical devices that can rotate of a certain angle realizing a linear movement of an arm generally connected with a control surface or a landing gear or an aerodynamic brake etc.

The engines are rotating systems that carry propellers to give thrust to the flying machine. We should will use brushless engines to reduce weight and increase the specific power.

We could think to use another configuration, with the possibility of controlling also the position of the engines ( they can rotate ). Building is a bit difficult but controlling the airship is harder, so you need a good pilot !

by Fabrizio Batocchi