Proceedings of the International Micro Air Vehicles Conference and Flight Competition 2017 (IMAV 2017)

The IMAV 2017 conference has been held at ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse, France from Sept. 18 to Sept. 21, 2017. More than 250 participants coming from 30 different countries worldwide have presented their latest research activities in the field of drones. 38 papers have been presented during the conference including various topics such as Aerodynamics, Aeroacoustics, Propulsion, Autopilots, Sensors, Communication systems, Mission planning techniques, Artificial Intelligence, Human-machine cooperation as applied to drones

Design, control, and visual navigation of the DelftaCopter VTOL tail-sitter UAV

To participate in the Outback Medical Express UAV Challenge 2016, a vehicle was designed and tested that can autonomously hover precisely, takeoff and land vertically, fly fast forward efficiently, and use computer vision to locate a person and a suitable landing location. The vehicle is a novel hybrid tail‐sitter combining a delta‐shaped biplane fixed‐wing and a conventional helicopter rotor. The rotor and wing are mounted perpendicularly to each other,and the entire vehicle pitches down to transition from hover to fast forward flight where the rotor serves as propulsion. To deliver sufficient thrust in hover while still being efficient in fast forward flight, a custom rotor system was designed. The theoretical design was validated with energy measurements, wind tunnel tests, and application in real‐world missions. A rotor‐head and corresponding control algorithm were developed to allow transitioning flight with the nonconventional rotor dynamics that are caused by the fuselage rotor interaction. Dedicated electronics were designed that meet vehicle needs and comply with regulations to allow safe flight beyond visual line of sight. Vision‐based search and guidance algorithms running on a stereo‐vision fish‐eye camera were developed and tested to locate a person in cluttered terrain never seen before. Flight tests and a competition participation illustrate the applicability of the DelftaCopter concept.Control & Simulatio