Analysis and Control of a Variable-Pitch Quadrotor for Agile Flight
Name
How_Analysis and control.pdf
Size
3.08 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
69d8a4b08f9a8685ca75cdce524b0b0b
Author(s)
Cutler, Mark Johnson
How, Jonathan P
Date Issued
July 2015
Journal
Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control
Publisher
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Citation
Cutler, Mark and How, Jonathan P. “Analysis and Control of a Variable-Pitch Quadrotor for Agile Flight.” Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control 137, no. 10 (July 2015): 101002. © 2015 American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Fixed-pitch quadrotors are popular research and hobby platforms largely due to their mechanical simplicity relative to other hovering aircraft. This simplicity, however, places fundamental limits on the achievable actuator bandwidth and the possible flight maneuvers. This paper shows that many of these limitations can be overcome by utilizing variable-pitch propellers on a quadrotor. A detailed analysis of the potential benefits of variable-pitch propellers over fixed-pitch propellers for a quadrotor is presented. This analysis is supported with experimental testing to show that variable-pitch propellers, in addition to allowing for generation of reverse thrust, substantially increase the maximum rate of thrust change. A nonlinear, quaternion-based control algorithm for controlling the quadrotor is also presented with an accompanying trajectory generation method that finds polynomial minimum-time paths based on actuator saturation levels. The control law and trajectory generation algorithms are implemented on a custom variable-pitch quadrotor. Several flight tests are shown, which highlight the benefits of a variable-pitch quadrotor over a standard fixed-pitch quadrotor for performing aggressive and aerobatic maneuvers.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4030676
