Quad Rotorcraft Control

Quad Rotorcraft Control develops original control methods for the navigation and hovering flight of an autonomous mini-quad-rotor robotic helicopter. These methods use an imaging system and a combination of inertial and altitude sensors to localize and guide the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle relative to its immediate environment. The history, classification and applications of UAVs are introduced, followed by a description of modelling techniques for quad-rotors and the experimental platform itself. A control strategy for the improvement of attitude stabilization in quad-rotors is then proposed and tested in real-time experiments. The strategy, based on the use low-cost components and with experimentally-established robustness, avoids drift in the UAV’s angular position by the addition of an internal control loop to each electronic speed controller ensuring that, during hovering flight, all four motors turn at almost the same speed. The quad-rotor’s Euler angles being very close to the origin, other sensors like GPS or image-sensing equipment can be incorporated to perform autonomous positioning or trajectory-tracking tasks. Two vision-based strategies, each designed to deal with a specific kind of mission, are introduced and separately tested. The first stabilizes the quad-rotor over a landing pad on the ground; it extracts the 3-dimensional position using homography estimation and derives translational velocity by optical flow calculation. The second combines colour-extraction and line-detection algorithms to control the quad-rotor’s 3-dimensional position and achieves forward velocity regulation during a road-following task. In order to estimate the translational-dynamical characteristics of the quad-rotor (relative position and translational velocity) as they evolve within a building or other unstructured, GPS-deprived environment, imaging, inertial and altitude sensors are combined in a state observer. The text give the reader a current view of the problems encountered in UAV control, specifically those relating to quad-rotor flying machines and it will interest researchers and graduate students working in that field. The vision-based control strategies presented help the reader to a better understanding of how an imaging system can be used to obtain the information required for performance of the hovering and navigation tasks ubiquitous in rotored UAV operation.

The quad-rotor helicopter is a UAV (Un-manned Air Vehicle) and has four rotors. To get efficient stabilization status, data measurement and analysis phase, and simulation and control phase are needed. During data measurement and analysis phase, people are struggling with inaccurate data due to the external disturbance or the battery issue. The author tried to get the moment of inertia of the quad-rotor helicopter as accurate as possible based on the experimental data. During simulation and control phase, the author applied PD (Proportional, Derivative) controller. First of all, trying to satisfy stabilization for the ideal case, which means all motors have same thrusts and speeds. Then the real motor values were applied to see the success of the controller's performance.

This book provides in-depth coverage of the latest research and development activities concerning innovative wind energy technologies intended to replace fossil fuels on an economical basis. A characteristic feature of the various conversion concepts discussed is the use of tethered flying devices to substantially reduce the material consumption per installed unit and to access wind energy at higher altitudes, where the wind is more consistent. The introductory chapter describes the emergence and economic dimension of airborne wind energy. Focusing on “Fundamentals, Modeling & Simulation”, Part I includes six contributions that describe quasi-steady as well as dynamic models and simulations of airborne wind energy systems or individual components. Shifting the spotlight to “Control, Optimization & Flight State Measurement”, Part II combines one chapter on measurement techniques with five chapters on control of kite and ground stations, and two chapters on optimization. Part III on “Concept Design & Analysis” includes three chapters that present and analyze novel harvesting concepts as well as two chapters on system component design. Part IV, which centers on “Implemented Concepts”, presents five chapters on established system concepts and one chapter about a subsystem for automatic launching and landing of kites. In closing, Part V focuses with four chapters on “Technology Deployment” related to market and financing strategies, as well as on regulation and the environment. The book builds on the success of the first volume “Airborne Wind Energy” (Springer, 2013), and offers a self-contained reference guide for researchers, scientists, professionals and students. The respective chapters were contributed by a broad variety of authors: academics, practicing engineers and inventors, all of whom are experts in their respective fields.

In the last decade the development and control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has attracted a lot of interest. Both researchers and companies have a growing interest in improving this type of vehicle given their many civilian and military applications. This book presents the state of the art in the area of UAV Flight Formation. The coordination and robust consensus approaches are presented in detail as well as formation flight control strategies which are validated in experimental platforms. It aims at helping students and academics alike to better understand what coordination and flight formation control can make possible. Several novel methods are presented: - controllability and observability of multi-agent systems; - robust consensus; - flight formation control; - stability of formations over noisy networks; which generate solutions of guaranteed performance for UAV Flight Formation. Contents 1. Introduction, J.A. Guerrero. 2. Theoretical Preliminaries, J.A. Guerrero. 3. Multiagent Coordination Strategies, J.A. Guerrero, R. Lozano, M.W. Spong, N. Chopra. 4. Robust Control Design for Multiagent Systems with Parametric Uncertainty, J.A. Guerrero, G. Romero. 5. On Adaptive and Robust Controlled Synchronization of Networked Robotic Systems on Strongly Connected Graphs, Y.-C. Liu, N. Chopra. 6. Modeling and Control of Mini UAV, G. Flores Colunga, J.A. Guerrero, J. Escareño, R. Lozano. 7. Flight Formation Control Strategies for Mini UAVs, J.A. Guerrero. 8. Formation Based on Potential Functions, L. García, A. Dzul. 9. Quadrotor Vision-Based Control, J.E. Gomez-Balderas, J.A. Guerrero, S. SALAZAR, R. Lozano, P. Castillo. 10. Toward Vision-Based Coordination of Quadrotor Platoons, L.R. García Carrillo, J.A. Guerrero, R. Lozano. 11. Optimal Guidance for Rotorcraft Platoon Formation Flying in Wind Fields, J.A. Guerrero, Y. Bestaoui, R. Lozano. 12. Impact of Wireless Medium Access Protocol on the Quadrotor Formation Control, J.A. Guerrero, Y. Challal, P. Castillo. 13. MAC Protocol for Wireless Communications, A. Mendez, M. Panduro, O. Elizarraras, D. Covarrubias. 14. Optimization of a Scannable Pattern for Bidimensional Antenna Arrays to Provide Maximum Performance, A. Reyna, M.A. Panduro, A. Mendez.

Modelling and Control of Mini-Flying Machines is an exposition of models developed to assist in the motion control of various types of mini-aircraft: • Planar Vertical Take-off and Landing aircraft; • helicopters; • quadrotor mini-rotorcraft; • other fixed-wing aircraft; • blimps. For each of these it propounds: • detailed models derived from Euler-Lagrange methods; • appropriate nonlinear control strategies and convergence properties; • real-time experimental comparisons of the performance of control algorithms; • review of the principal sensors, on-board electronics, real-time architecture and communications systems for mini-flying machine control, including discussion of their performance; • detailed explanation of the use of the Kalman filter to flying machine localization. To researchers and students in nonlinear control and its applications Modelling and Control of Mini-Flying Machines provides valuable insights to the application of real-time nonlinear techniques in an always challenging area.

This book is the first textbook specially on multicopter systems in the world. It provides a comprehensive overview of multicopter systems, rather than focusing on a single method or technique. The fifteen chapters are divided into five parts, covering the topics of multicopter design, modeling, state estimation, control, and decision-making. It differs from other books in the field in three major respects: it is basic and practical, offering self-contained content and presenting hands-on methods; it is comprehensive and systematic; and it is timely. It is also closely related to the autopilot that users often employ today and provides insights into the code employed. As such, it offers a valuable resource for anyone interested in multicopters, including students, teachers, researchers, and engineers. This introductory text is a welcome addition to the literature on multicopter design and control, on which the author is an acknowledged authority. The book is directed to advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in aeronautical and control (or electrical) engineering, as well as to multicopter designers and hobbyists. ------- Professor W. Murray Wonham, University of Toronto "This is the single best introduction to multicopter control. Clear, comprehensive and progressing from basic principles to advanced techniques, it's a must read for anyone hoping to learn how to design flying robots." ------- Chris Anderson, 3D Robotics CEO.

Project Report from the year 2008 in the subject Instructor Plans: Craft / Production / Trade - Electronics Engineering, grade: 90, Sir Syed University Of Engineering & Technology, language: English, abstract: Quad rotor helicopters have become increasingly important in recent years as platforms for both research and commercial unmanned aerial vehicle applications. This progress report explains work on several important aerodynamic effects. These vehicles have 4 identical rotors in 2 pairs spinning in opposite directions, and possess many advantages over standard helicopters in terms of safety and efficiency at small sizes.

The past decade has seen tremendous interest in the production and refinement of unmanned aerial vehicles, both fixed-wing, such as airplanes and rotary-wing, such as helicopters and vertical takeoff and landing vehicles. This book provides a diversified survey of research and development on small and miniature unmanned aerial vehicles of both fixed and rotary wing designs. From historical background to proposed new applications, this is the most comprehensive reference yet.