Single-propeller drone project publishes open hardware files on GitHub

An open hardware project led by Joshua Bird has demonstrated a very small drone that flies using only a single propeller. The design relies on a hinged propeller hub that manipulates blade angles for pitch and roll control, combined with direct motor speed and position measurement rather than standard ESC back-EMF methods. The project files are available on GitHub, and future plans include adding environmental scanning for autonomous fixed reference points to enable outdoor flight.

How the single-propeller control works

• Hinged propeller hub manipulates blade angles to control pitch and roll, requiring extremely rapid adjustments
• Custom motor controller replaces standard ESCs because back-EMF sensing is too slow for this application
• Direct motor measurement of speed and position enables the fast control loops necessary for stability
• Infrared beacon system provides a fixed reference point to prevent positional drift and crashes
• Planned environmental scanner would allow the drone to use surrounding features as autonomous reference points for outdoor flight

Why it matters

The project demonstrates that unconventional drone architectures can be stabilized with creative mechanical and control-system design rather than defaulting to multi-rotor configurations. Publishing the files advances reproducibility for other open hardware researchers.