My Skill Lab
RoboticsIntermediate

Drones & Flight Control Basics

How multirotors fly and stay stable.

Taught by Sristi Maharjan · Robotics Engineer

What you'll learn

  • Explain how a multirotor generates lift and how differential motor speeds produce roll, pitch, and yaw.
  • Describe why props spin in opposite directions and how reaction torque is balanced to control heading.
  • Read accelerometer and gyroscope data and explain the strengths and weaknesses of each sensor.
  • Fuse gyro and accelerometer data into a stable attitude estimate using a complementary or Kalman-style filter.
  • Reason about a cascaded PID stabilisation loop and tune P, I, and D terms by their visible symptoms.
  • Choose appropriate flight modes and apply core safety practices and beginner UAS regulations.

About this course

A hands-on, intuition-first tour of how quadcopters actually fly: the physics of thrust and torque, how cheap MEMS sensors are fused into a clean attitude estimate, and how a PID loop turns that estimate into stable, controllable flight. You will learn to read a flight controller's behaviour, reason about tuning, and fly responsibly within the rules.

Course content

8 lessons
  1. 1Anatomy of a MultirotorThe physical parts of a quadcopter and what each one does.Preview
  2. 2Thrust, Torque, and How a Quad MovesThe physics of lift and rotation that lets four fixed propellers steer.Preview
  3. 3IMU Sensing: The Gyro and AccelerometerWhat the inertial sensors measure, and the noise and drift that limit them.
  4. 4Attitude Estimation: Fusing the SensorsCombining gyro and accelerometer into a single trustworthy orientation estimate.
  5. 5PID Stabilisation: The Control LoopHow proportional, integral, and derivative terms hold the drone steady.
  6. 6Tuning Intuition: Reading the SymptomsA practical, symptom-driven method for tuning a multirotor's PID.
  7. 7Flight Modes and What They StabiliseAcro, self-level, altitude hold, and GPS modes, and when to use each.
  8. 8Safety, Regulations, and Pre-Flight DisciplineBattery safety, pre-flight checks, and the core rules for flying legally.