Systems and methods for a transformable unmanned aerial vehicle with coplanar and omnidirectional features
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
InventorsShi Lu, Yan Chen, Konstantinos Tsakalis, Armando Rodriguez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transformable Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), can operate as a coplanar hexacopter or as an omnidirectional multirotor based on different operation modes. The UAV has 100% force efficiency for launching or landing tasks in the coplanar mode. In the omnidirectional mode, the UAV is fully actuated in the air for agile mobility in six degrees of freedom (DOFs). Models and control design are developed to characterize the motion of the transformable UAV. Simulation results are presented to validate the transformable UAV design and the enhanced UAV performance, compared with a fixed structure.
Claims20
A vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of arms in association with a body and a plurality of rotor assemblies, the plurality of arms being collectively operable for positioning according to an operating mode of the vehicle;
- and
- a processor in communication with a memory, a plurality of sensors operable for measuring a set of kinematic values associated with the vehicle and the plurality of rotor assemblies, the memory including instructions executable by the processor to:
- evaluate, based on measurements from the plurality of sensors, the set of kinematic values associated with the vehicle and an operating mode value (μ) indicative of an operating mode of the vehicle;
- generate, by a position controller implemented at the processor of the vehicle, a position control output including a reference force vector (Fdes) based on the set of kinematic values, the operating mode value of the vehicle, and a reference trajectory, the reference trajectory being dependent upon the operating mode value of the vehicle;
- generate, by an attitude controller implemented at the processor of the vehicle, a reference torque (Tdes) based on the set of kinematic values and a reference rotation matrix (Rdes);
- and
- apply, by the processor, an actuation signal to one or more rotor assemblies of the plurality of rotor assemblies of the vehicle based on the reference force vector and the reference torque.
A method, comprising:
- evaluating, at a processor of a vehicle and based on measurements from a plurality of sensors of the vehicle, a set of kinematic values associated with the vehicle and an operating mode value (x) indicative of an operating mode of the vehicle;
- the processor being in communication with a memory, the plurality of sensors operable for measuring the set of kinematic values associated with the vehicle, and a plurality of rotor assemblies of the vehicle;
- and
- the vehicle including a plurality of arms in association with a body and the plurality of rotor assemblies, the plurality of arms being collectively operable for positioning according to the operating mode of the vehicle;
- generating, by a position controller implemented at the processor of the vehicle, a position control output including a reference force vector (Fdes) based on the set of kinematic values, the operating mode value of the vehicle, and a reference trajectory, the reference trajectory being dependent upon the operating mode value of the vehicle;
- generating, by an attitude controller implemented at the processor of the vehicle, a reference torque (Tdes) based on the set of kinematic values and a reference rotation matrix (Rdes);
- and
- applying, by the processor, an actuation signal to one or more rotor assemblies of the plurality of rotor assemblies of the vehicle based on the reference force vector and the reference torque.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.