Safety-relevant updates of the soft- and hardware are made available to all customers free of charge. Of course, like any aircraft, the Songbird should be checked on a regular basis and wear parts are to be replaced. Certain intervals are set for this and a flight time counter in the software provides an overview to see when maintenance is due. Of course, operators can act at their own discretion. But if you decide on a maintenance plan from us (available as bronze, silver, and gold packages) you don't have to worry about anything other than handing the Songbird over to Germandrones or a service partner at the appropriate times.
Recently the Songbird of the University of Potsdam was in our workshop for extensive maintenance. Since the UAV of the Institute of Geosciences is one of the first systems of this product generation to be delivered, it has been brought up to date with numerous changes:
A capacitor was added to the main PCB to optimize the power supply of the servomotors [Fig. 1].
The airspeed sensor has been replaced by our newest model [Fig. 2] which was already presented in more detail in the News on May 20th, 2021. It is a bit smaller and lighter and above all is less prone to damage because it is made of flexible material.
New propeller mounts ensure an even better hold which must be checked less often as the propeller is now secured by four decentralized screws instead of just one nut on the main motor shaft [Fig. 3].
In addition, all the usual maintenance steps were carried out. This means that all components were checked for tight fit, the state of wear was recorded and, if necessary, parts were replaced - for example a few screws that had loosened [Fig. 4]. Wear and tear on propellers is also a frequent occurrence [Fig. 5]. If the Songbird has been exposed to a lot of dust or water, the electronic compartments are also cleaned and checked for possible damage.
If necessary, customers can update the flight controller software and the ground station by themselves via the menu [Fig. 6]. If we carry out maintenance work on our premises, of course we take care of these steps as well.
Last but not least:
In order to guarantee the usual reliability of our systems and to ensure that all components, new and old, work together as expected, we finally carry out a test flight [Fig. 7].
Eventually the Songbird in its unique light gray color variant has been delivered back to Potsdam after just a few days.
Contact:
Dr. Klaus Scho, CEO
takeoff@germandrones.com
Tel. + 49 (0)30 34 78 12 81