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Chapter 52 — Modeling and Control of Aerial Robots

Robert Mahony, Randal W. Beard and Vijay Kumar

Aerial robotic vehicles are becoming a core field in mobile robotics. This chapter considers some of the fundamental modelling and control architectures in the most common aerial robotic platforms; small-scale rotor vehicles such as the quadrotor, hexacopter, or helicopter, and fixed wing vehicles. In order to control such vehicles one must begin with a good but sufficiently simple dynamic model. Based on such models, physically motivated control architectures can be developed. Such algorithms require realisable target trajectories along with real-time estimates of the system state obtained from on-board sensor suite. This chapter provides a first introduction across all these subjects for the quadrotor and fixed wing aerial robotic vehicles.

Autopilot using total-energy control

Author  Randy Beard

Video ID : 436

This video shows simulation results of an autopilot wich controls the lateral modes using a standard nested loop structure; the longitudinal autopilot is designed using the total-energy control structure. The commands to the autopilot are for airspeed, course angle, and altitude. The video shows a number of different step commands in these variables and the performance of a six-DOF aerodynamic model of a Zagi-style fixed-wing aircraft.

Dubins airplane

Author  Randy Beard

Video ID : 437

This video shows how paths are planned using software based on the Dubins airplane model.