Modelling and control of a quadrotor with flexible arms

Abstract

Among the UAVs, quadrotors are now the most popular and studied drones. These drones are called upon to perform various tasks, particularly the transport of increasingly heavy instruments or parcels, while keeping a structure as light as possible. The arms will inevitably deform under these loads, altering the flying machine's dynamic behavior. Precise drone flight control systems require rigorous dynamic modeling, taking into account the effect of deformation. In this study, we propose and evaluate an original design of a flexible quadcopter that will optimize its maneuverability and controllability in tight and complex spaces, even when carrying relatively heavy loads. The principle is based on the Lagrange method. The introduction of deformation is done through additional degrees of freedom. The effects of elastic deformation, rigid body motion, and coupling between them are all included in the final model. Based on the dynamic model built, we propose a new non-linear controller, which takes into account the arms deformation. The proposed controller adapts well to disturbances due to the effect of deformation, improving the trajectory tracking capability of the system. We will demonstrate the exponential stability of a compensated tracking error.

Keywords

• Flexible micro UAV
• Flexible arms
• Modeling
• Stabilization
• Trajectory tracking