Large-Workspace Dual Multi-Rotor Aerial Payload Deployment System Using a Cable-Suspended Device With Ducted Fans

Abstract

The demand for payload transportation has shown exceptional growth owing to its inherent convenience and ability to reduce manpower requirements. To address the limitations of previous studies that primarily employed a single multi-rotor to deploy payloads within a limited reach, we designed a cablesuspended aerial payload deployment system with a large workspace that allowed payload deployment at a distance from the multi-rotor platforms. Our system comprised two multi-rotors, a payload deployment device (PDD, hereafter) with ducted fans, servomotors and a microcomputer. The ducted fans were used not only for swing suppression during payload transportation, but also to ensure that the PDD maintained a certain angle to the vertical plane where the dual multi-rotors were located during the deployment phase. Compared to existing research results, our design has a larger working distance in the vertical and horizontal directions. The controller designed for the PDD was adaptive and robust to variation of the payload mass and distance between the dual multi-rotors. We verified the effectiveness of our design and algorithms through several experiments.INDEX TERMS Cable-suspension, disturbance estimation and rejection, actuated payload deployment device, multi-rotor, unmanned aerial vehicles.