Design, dynamic modelling and control of tilt-rotor UAVs: a review

Hegde, Navya Thirumaleshwar; George, V I; Nayak, Gurudas C; Kumar, K. Saran

doi:10.1108/ijius-01-2019-0001

Cited by 30 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Tiltrotor UAVs have moving rotors that are vertical during take-off, landing, and vertical flight. However, they can tilt forward 90 degrees to be positioned horizontally for horizontal flight [53]. The tilt-wing configuration changes the degree of the whole wing from 0 to 90 degrees for VTOL and vertical flights.…”

Section: Hybrid Uavsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Detailed Survey and Future Directions of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with Potential Applications

2021

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Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have gained widespread interest in civilian and military applications, which has led to the development of novel UAVs that can perform various operations. UAVs are aircraft that can fly without the need of a human pilot onboard, meaning they can fly either autonomously or be remotely piloted. They can be equipped with multiple sensors, including cameras, inertial measurement units (IMUs), LiDAR, and GPS, to collect and transmit data in real time. Due to the demand for UAVs in various applications such as precision agriculture, search and rescue, wireless communications, and surveillance, several types of UAVs have been invented with different specifications for their size, weight, range and endurance, engine type, and configuration. Because of this variety, the design process and analysis are based on the type of UAV, with the availability of several control techniques that could be used to improve the flight of the UAV in order to avoid obstacles and potential collisions, as well as find the shortest path to save the battery life with the support of optimization techniques. However, UAVs face several challenges in order to fly smoothly, including collision avoidance, battery life, and intruders. This review paper presents UAVs’ classification, control applications, and future directions in industry and research interest. For the design process, fabrication, and analysis, various control approaches are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the challenges for UAVs, including battery charging, collision avoidance, and security, are also presented and discussed.

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Section: Hybrid Uavsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Detailed Survey and Future Directions of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with Potential Applications

2021

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“…The rotation of the tilt angle from vertical to horizontal is gradually changing from 90∘ to 0∘ in 15∘ interval. Equations for the transition flight mode are referred from Hegde et al . (2019, 2020), a review article by same authors.…”

Section: Proposed Mathematical Modeling Of the Autonomous Vertical Take-off And Landing Quad Tiltrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehiclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The focus must be on the non-linear dynamics created due to the innovative hybrid UAV layouts (Saeed et al , 2015; Ducard and Hua, 2014; Hirpara and Sharma, 2016). Numerous control methods along with theory related to it should be researched to improve UAV autonomy in varying environments (Hegde et al , 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of robust H-infinity controller in transition flight modeling of autonomous VTOL convertible Quad Tiltrotor UAV

Hegde

George

Nayak

et al. 2021

IJIUS

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PurposeThis paper aims to provide a mathematical modeling and design of H-infinity controller for an autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) Quad Tiltrotor hybrid unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The variation in the aerodynamics and model dynamics of these aerial vehicles due to its tilting rotors are the key issues and challenges, which attracts the attention of many researchers. They carry parametric uncertainties (such as non-linear friction force, backlash, etc.), which drives the designed controller based on the nominal model to instability or performance degradation. The controller needs to take these factors into consideration and still give good stability and performance. Hence, a robust H-infinity controller is proposed that can handle these uncertainties.Design/methodology/approachA unique VTOL Quad Tiltrotor hybrid UAV, which operates in three flight modes, is mathematically modeled using Newton–Euler equations of motion. The contribution of the model is its ability to combine high-speed level flight, VTOL and transition between these two phases. The transition involves the tilting of the proprotors from 90° to 0° and vice-versa in 15° intervals. A robust H-infinity control strategy is proposed, evaluated and analyzed through simulation to control the flight dynamics for different modes of operation.FindingsThe main contribution of this research is the mathematical modeling of three flight modes (vertical takeoff–forward, transition–cruise-back, transition-vertical landing) of operation by controlling the revolutions per minute and tilt angles, which are independent of each other. An autonomous flight control system using a robust H-infinity controller to stabilize the mode of transition is designed for the Quad Tiltrotor UAV in the presence of uncertainties, noise and disturbances using MATLAB/SIMULINK. This paper focused on improving the disturbance rejection properties of the proposed UAV by designing a robust H-infinity controller for position and orientation trajectory regulation in the presence of uncertainty. The simulation results show that the Tiltrotor achieves transition successfully with disturbances, noise and uncertainties being present.Originality/valueA novel VTOL Quad Tiltrotor UAV mathematical model is developed with a special tilting rotor mechanism, which combines both aircraft and helicopter flight modes with the transition taking place in between phases using robust H-infinity controller for attitude, altitude and trajectory regulation in the presence of uncertainty.

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“…After two decades of research in TRUAV control systems, numerous problems exist, including mathematical modeling of TRUAV dynamics, controller system design (Hegde et al, 2020), multiple control functions, the safe transition from VTOL to airplane mode and vice versa and flight planning approaches challenged with various tasks (Deng et al, 2012). The mathematical modeling of TRUAV dynamics is important because, if the interference effects are ignored, there are substantial errors in the TRUAV mathematical mode deviating it more from the real UAV, severely affecting the flight test (Choi et al, 2011;Tokutake et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, modeling and simulation of a control surface-less tri-tilt-rotor UAV

Annamalai

Thunaipragasam

2021

AEAT

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to design a flight control model for a control surface-less (CSL) tri-tilt-rotor (TTR) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based on a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller to stabilize the altitude and attitude of the UAV subjected to various flying conditions. Design/methodology/approach First, the proposed UAV with a tilting mechanism is designed and analyzed to obtain the aerodynamic parameters. Second, the dynamics of the proposed UAV are mathematically modeled using Newton-Euler formation. Then, the PID controller is implemented in the simulation model to control flight maneuvers. The model parameters were implemented in a mathematical model to find the system’s stability for various flight conditions. The model was linearized to determine the PID gain values for vertical take-off and landing, cruise and transition mode. The PID controller was tuned to obtain the desired altitude and attitude in a short period. The tuned PID gain values were implemented in the PID controller and the model was simulated. Findings The main contribution of this study is the mathematical model and controller for a UAV without any control surface and uses only a thrust vector control mechanism which reduces the complexity of the controller. The simulation has been carried out for various flight conditions. The altitude PID controller and the attitude PID controller for CSL-TTR-UAV were tuned to obtain desired altitude and attitude within the optimum duration of 4 s and deviation in the attitude of 8%, which is within the allowable limit of 14%. The findings obtained from the simulation revels that the altitude and attitude control of the CSL-TTR-UAV was achieved by controlling the rpm of the rotor and tilt angle using the PID controller. Originality/value A novel CSL TTR UAV mathematical model is developed with a dual tilting mechanism for a tail rotor and single axis tilt for the rotors in the wing. The flight control model controls the UAV without a control surface using a PID controller for the thrust vector mechanism.

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Design, dynamic modelling and control of tilt-rotor UAVs: a review

Cited by 30 publications

References 37 publications

A Detailed Survey and Future Directions of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with Potential Applications

A Detailed Survey and Future Directions of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with Potential Applications

Application of robust H-infinity controller in transition flight modeling of autonomous VTOL convertible Quad Tiltrotor UAV

Design, modeling and simulation of a control surface-less tri-tilt-rotor UAV

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