Motion Equations and Attitude Control in the Vertical Flight of a VTOL Bi-Rotor UAV

Abstract

This paper gathers the design and implementation of the control system that allows an unmanned Flying-wing to perform a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) maneuver using two tilting rotors (Bi-Rotor). Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) operating in this configuration are also categorized as Hybrid UAVs due to their ability of having a dual flight envelope: hovering like a multi-rotor and cruising like a traditional fixed-wing, providing the opportunity of facing complex missions in which these two different dynamics are required. This work exhibits the Bi-Rotor nonlinear dynamics, the attitude tracking controller design and also, the results obtained through Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) simulation and experimental studies that ensure the controller’s efficiency in hovering operation.

Particle swarm optimization based proportional-derivative parameters for unmanned tilt-rotor flight control and trajectory tracking

“…Table 4 presents the corresponding performance of PSO and RM results for the tilt-rotor's outputs (φ, θ , ψ, x, y, z) in hover-flight. In the same table, the results of Backstepping [7], Integral Backstepping [8], Genetic Algorithm (GA) [30] and Root-Locus [30] methods are included (T s : settling time, y, z, φ, θ, ψ)). The rotors' angular speeds and tilting angles are shown in Figure 6.…”

“…Comparing PSO results with Backstepping [7], Integral Backstepping [8], GA [30] and Root-Locus [30] methods shows that PSO performs responses of positions (x, y, z) and yaw angle (ψ) with 0% overshoot and reduces the settling times to 3.4503 s, 2.7608 s and 0.0172 s, respectively. For the position y, the value of T s increases to 4.1445 s with 0% overshoot, compared to 3.9795 s for Backstepping with 5% overshoot.…”

“…In starter mode (x, y, z) = (0, −2, 2), low energy is applied, as shown in Figure 9, where the rotors turn Table 4. PSO and RM obtained performance for the tilt-rotor's outputs (φ, θ, ψ, x, y, z) while hovering, and comparisons with Backstepping [7], Integral Backstepping [8], GA [30] and Root-Locus [30] methods.…”

“…The control law is selected to minimize a quadratic criterion of errors. The obtained PSO and RM results can be compared to Backstepping [7], Integral Backstepping [8], GA [30] and Root-Locus [30] as they relate to tilt-rotor control. Moreover, flight test experiments will be carried out on our prototype, which is currently being assembled at the laboratory within this project framework.…”

Accurate Rigid Body Localization Using DoA Measurements from a Single Base Station

“…High-precision position and attitude information of a rigid object are essential for many military and civilian applications. For example, RBL can be used to acquire the 3-D position and orientation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) [3], aircrafts, and submarines. It can also be applied to monitor the tilts of buildings and bridges in real time.…”