The original Mikrokopter (MK) was designed and built in Germany in 2006 by Holger Buss and Ingo Busker. The two continue to develop and add functionally to this great little flying machine. The system is used by aerial photographers, universities, and other entities that need a low altitude “eye in the sky”. It is also becoming very popular among RC enthusiasts. There seems to be an entire aviation field building up around this interesting looking multi-rotor aircraft. As the capabilities become greater, you can expect to see more and interesting in the field.

The Mikrokopter is a very powerful and stable camera platform that can easily carry the weight of a camera and other electronics. The MK comes in several versions, quad (four motors), Hexakopter (six motors) and Oktokopter with eight motors.  There are also variants of each model including the XL versions designed with heavier lifting capabilities.  However, the basic operation is the same and that is what I think will be helpful in understanding the basic concept of operating any of the MK.

The MK also has a large array of components, all of which perform critical function.

The various systems include:

Frames

Flight Control Computer

Brushless Controllers

Navigation System

Power Distribution Boards

Battery

Motors

Propellers

Receivers

Transmitter

The following pages in this section will review these systems.