3D-printed drone airframes and autonomous flight software

Challenge

Small unmanned aircraft are usually built from two disconnected worlds: airframes designed for traditional tooling, and flight stacks assembled from generic components. The result is slow structural iteration, a poor fit between hardware and software, and autonomy that trusts the radio link more than the aircraft. Vendenis set out to close that gap as first-party R&D — one engineering programme covering the printable structure, the onboard software and the autonomy between them.

Solution

The structural track engineers professional airframe structures for large-scale additive manufacturing — lattice geometries that print reliably at military and commercial grade, with documented tolerances and repeatable series builds. The software track develops the high-level flight stack: real-time motor command and control, sensor fusion and fail-safe behavior, and onboard decision-making that plans and completes missions fully autonomously, with zero operator input required in nominal flight.

Architecture

The onboard software runs as a layered real-time system: a control core driving motor loops at rates up to 400 Hz, a navigation and decision layer that owns the mission, and a telemetry service that streams state to the ground without ever being flight-critical. Every build is validated in simulation first — flight-dynamics models and scenario libraries drive thousands of virtual flights, and hardware-in-the-loop rigs replay the same scenarios against real electronics before any airborne test.

Outcome

The airframe library now iterates roughly three times faster than tooling-bound designs, and every printed generation carries its structural documentation with it. The autonomy stack has matured from assisted flight to fully autonomous missions with onboard decision-making, governed by one discipline: simulate, validate, then fly. The capability is available to client programmes across the drone value chain — from component manufacturers to complete-vehicle initiatives.