Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Development of a Rotorcraft Micro air Vehicle for Indoor Flight Research

  • Published:
Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Autonomous flight of micro air vehicles (MAVs) in hostile indoor environments poses significant challenges in terms of control and navigation. In order to support navigation and control research for indoor micro air vehicles, a four-wing tail-sitter type rotorcraft MAV weighing less than 350g has been designed in this paper. In an effort to achieve autonomous indoor flight, an embedded integrated avionic system has been developed. The modeling process has been conducted to obtain accurate six degrees of freedom dynamical model for the designed rotorcraft MAV. In addition, aerodynamic coefficients are evaluated from the results of Computational Fluid Dynamics A PI-ADRC double loop controller with inner-loop outer-loop control scheme has been proposed which takes into account the system’s nonlinearities and uncertainties. The proposed flight controller was implemented on the designed rotorcraft MAV that has undergone various simulation and indoor flight tests. Experimental results that demonstrate robustness of the proposed controller with respect to external disturbances and the capabilities of the designed rotorcraft MAV are presented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bermes, C., Bouabdallah, S., Siegwart, R.: Design of the autonomous micro helicopter mufly. Mechatronics 21(5), 765–775 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kendoul, F., Yu, Z.Y., Nonami, K.: Guidance and nonlinear control system for autonomous flight of minirotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicles. J. FieldRobot. 27(3), 311334 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  3. How, J.P., Bethke, B., Frank, A.: DaleD:Real-time indoor autonomous vehicle test environment. IEEE Control Syst. 28(2), 5164 (2008)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Burkle, A., Segor, F., Kollmann, M.: Towards autonomous micro UAV swarms. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 61(1), 339–353 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Mohr, B.B., Fitzpatrick, D.L.: Micro Air Vehicle Navigation System. IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine 4, 19–24 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Nonami, K.: Prospect and recent research anddevelopment for civil use autonomous unmanned aircraft as UAV and MAV. J. Syst. Des. Dyn. 1(2), 120–128 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rudol, P., Wzorek, M., Conte, G., Doherty, P.: Micro unmanned aerial vehicle visual servoing for cooperativeindoor exploration. IEEE Aerosp. Conf., 1–10 (2008)

  8. Oh, H., Won, D., Huh, S., Shim, D.H.: Experimental framework for controller design of a rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle using multi-camera aystem. Int. J. Aeronaut. Space Sci. 11(2), 69–79 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Andersh, J., Mettler, B.: System integration of a miniature rotorcraft for aerial tele-operation research. Mechatronics 21(5), 776–788 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kendoul, F., Fantoni, I., Lozano, R.: Adaptive vision-Based controller for small rotorcraft UAVs control and guidance , Proceedings of the 17th World Congress, the International Federation of Automatic Control pp. 97–102 (2008)

  11. Wu, C.J., Tsai, W.H.: Location estimation for indoor autonomous vehicle navigation by omni-directional vision using circular landmarks on ceilings. Robot. Auton. Syst. 57(5), 546–555 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Michini, B.: Modeling and adaptive control of indoor unmanned aerial vehicles. Master Thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007)

  13. Claus, C.H., Eric, J.: An ILS inspired approach and departure system utilizing monocular vision first symposium on indoor flight issues. Georigia Institute of Technology, pp. 1–20 (2009)

  14. Schwenker, A.: Vanishingly small systems. Explorations, 14–16 (2010)

  15. Jimenez-Gonzalez, A., Martinez-deDios, J.R., Anibal, O.: Test beds for ubiquitous robotics: a survey. Robot. Auton. Syst. 61, 1487–1501 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Cai, G.W., Chen, B.M., Peng, K., Dong, M.B., Lee, T.H.: Modeling and control of the yaw channel of a UAVhelicopter. IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. 55(9), 3426–3434 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Oh, H., Won, D., Huh, S., Shim, D.H.: Indoor UAV control using multi-camera visual feedback. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 61(1), 57–84 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bosnak, M., Matko, D., Blazic, S.: Quadrocopter control using an on-board video system with off-board processing. Robot. Auton. Syst. 60, 657–667 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Shin, J., Ji, S., Shon, W., Lee, H.: Indoor hovering control of small ducted-fan type OAV using ultrasonic positioning system. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 61(4), 15–27 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. VinodK, L., JamesD, B.: Computational investigation of micro-scale shrouded rotor aerodynamics in hover. J. Am. Helicopter Soc. 56(4), 1–15 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Stiltner, B., Cotting, M.C., Ohanian, O.J.: Derivation and analysis of the equations of motion for aducted fan UAV. AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference, pp 1–20 (2011)

  22. Choi, Y.H., Hong, S.H., Suk, J.Y.: Mathematical modeling of a small scale ducted-fan UAV. AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference, pp 1–13 (2011)

  23. Zhao, H.: Development of a dynamic model of a ducted fan VTOL UAV. Master Thesis. RMIT University (2009)

  24. Akturk, A., Camci, C.: Tip clearance investigation of a ducted fan used in VTOL UAVs part 1: baseline experiments and computational validation. Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition, pp 1–14 (2011)

  25. Han, J.Q.: From PID to active disturbance rejection control. IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. 56(3), 900–906 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Zhao, C.Z., Huang, Y.: ADRC based integrated buidance and control scheme for the interception of maneuvering targets with desired LOS angle. In: Proceedings of the 29th Chinese Control Conference, pp 6192–6196 (2010)

  27. Chi, R., Li, J., Jin, S.T., Hou, Z.S.: ADRC based freeway traffic density control via ramp metering. Control and Decision Conference, pp 1927–1931 (2011)

  28. Madonski, R., Herman, P.: An experimental verification of adrc robustness on a cross-coupled aerodynamical system. Industrial Electronics, pp 853–863 (2011)

  29. Kubo, D., Nagasaka, N., Suzuki, S.: Autonomous distributed aerial observation system using electric ducted fan micro aerial vehicles. AIAA Infotech at aerospace conference, pp 1–11 (2009)

  30. Mahony, R., Hamel, T., Pflimlin, J.: Non-linear complementary filters on the special orthogonal group. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 53(5), 1203–1217 (2008)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Li Fu, Lingling Wang & Xi Yang

Authors
  1. Li Fu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lingling Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xi Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Li Fu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fu, L., Wang, L. & Yang, X. Development of a Rotorcraft Micro air Vehicle for Indoor Flight Research. J Intell Robot Syst 81, 423–441 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0217-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0217-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation