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Feasibility Study of Attitude Determination for All-Rotating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Steady Flight

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Abstract

All-rotating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an interesting subgroup of unmanned aerial vehicles because of their excellent aerodynamics and simple construction. The flight control principle of these vehicles is similar to that of the helicopters. However, due to the all-rotating nature of these vehicles, their flight control mechanism must rely solely on attitude determination. Since the all-rotating aerial vehicles spin at very high angular velocities, the problem of attitude determination requires special attention. This paper deals with the feasibility issues of attitude determination for all-rotating UAVs, based on observations of the gravity and magnetic field vectors. It presents the analysis of magnetometer and accelerometer applicability on board the all-rotating UAV platform, revealing the problematic effects which arise from high spin velocities. The problem of attitude determination is simplified for steady flight, followed by the proposition of a method for eliminating the spin-induced acceleration and a corresponding calibration procedure. Both methods are evaluated in a controlled test environment simulating the steady flight conditions. Test results serve as a proof of concept, making the application of the proposed methods reasonable for future real-flight experimentation and analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Tržaška cesta 25, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Gašper Matič, Marko Jankovec & Marko Topič

  2. CAEN ELS d.o.o., Kraška ulica 2, 6210, Sežana, Slovenia

    David Jurman

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  1. Gašper Matič
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  2. Marko Jankovec
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  3. David Jurman
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  4. Marko Topič
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Correspondence to Gašper Matič.

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Matič, G., Jankovec, M., Jurman, D. et al. Feasibility Study of Attitude Determination for All-Rotating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Steady Flight. J Intell Robot Syst 80, 341–360 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-014-0173-z

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