Impact of CoM Placement on Quadcopter's Performance and Controller Development

Abstract

The development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) typically follows an iterative process, where physical design precedes controller design. This study seeks to enhance the development process for quadcopters and drones by elucidating the interplay between physical design parameters and control system effectiveness. Notably, this work could gain attention as its focus is on the relationship between a physical design parameter and its impact on control systems, an aspect that has not been addressed in contemporary research. Initially, we assess two established experimental techniques for determining the Center of Mass (CoM) of a quadrotor, a critical indicator of mass distribution in the assembled or manufactured system. Then, we explore how CoM placement influences control processes and introduce a novel computational methodology for managing mass-imbalanced quadcopters, applicable to both traditional and novel control strategies. Performance evaluations in both balanced and unbalanced conditions had been conducted and compared to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Keywords

• drone design
• design parameters
• mass balancing
• symmetricity
• controller tuning