Geometric Mechanics, Stability and Control

This paper gives an overview of selected topics in mechanics and their relation to questions of stability, control and stabilization. The mechanical connection, whose holonomy gives phases and that plays an important role in block diagonalization, provides a unifying theme

Bounded attitude control of rigid bodies: Real-time experimentation to a quadrotor mini-helicopter

International audienceA quaternion-based feedback is developed for the attitude stabilization of rigid bodies. The control design takes into account a priori input bounds and is based on nested saturation approach. It results in a very simple controller suitable for an embedded use with low computational resources available. The proposed method is generic not restricted to symmetric rigid bodies and does not require the knowledge of the inertia matrix of the body. The control law can be tuned to force closed-loop trajectories to enter in some a priori fixed neighborhood of the origin in a finite time and remain thereafter. The global stability is guaranteed in the case where angular velocities sensors have limited measurement range. The control law is experimentally applied to the attitude stabilization of a quadrotor mini-helicopter

Voliro: An Omnidirectional Hexacopter With Tiltable Rotors

Extending the maneuverability of unmanned areal vehicles promises to yield a considerable increase in the areas in which these systems can be used. Some such applications are the performance of more complicated inspection tasks and the generation of complex uninterrupted movements of an attached camera. In this paper we address this challenge by presenting Voliro, a novel aerial platform that combines the advantages of existing multi-rotor systems with the agility of omnidirectionally controllable platforms. We propose the use of a hexacopter with tiltable rotors allowing the system to decouple the control of position and orientation. The contributions of this work involve the mechanical design as well as a controller with the corresponding allocation scheme. This work also discusses the design challenges involved when turning the concept of a hexacopter with tiltable rotors into an actual prototype. The agility of the system is demonstrated and evaluated in real- world experiments.Comment: Submitted to Robotics and Automation Magazin

Modelling and Control of an Annular Momentum Control Device

The results of a modelling and control study for an advanced momentum storage device supported on magnetic bearings are documented. The control challenge posed by this device lies in its dynamics being such a strong function of flywheel rotational speed. At high rotational speed, this can lead to open loop instabilities, resulting in requirements for minimum and maximum control bandwidths and gains for the stabilizing controllers. Using recently developed analysis tools for systems described by complex coefficient differential equations, the closed properties of the controllers were analyzed and stability properties established. Various feedback controllers are investigated and discussed. Both translational and angular dynamics compensators are developed, and measures of system stability and robustness to plant and operational speed variations are presented

Eigenvalue assignment strategies in rotor systems

The work done to establish the control and direction of effective eigenvalue excursions of lightly damped, speed dependent rotor systems using passive control is discussed. Both second order and sixth order bi-axis, quasi-linear, speed dependent generic models were investigated. In every case a single, bi-directional control bearing was used in a passive feedback stabilization loop to resist modal destabilization above the rotor critical speed. Assuming incomplete state measurement, sub-optimal control strategies were used to define the preferred location of the control bearing, the most effective measurement locations, and the best set of control gains to extend the speed range of stable operation. Speed dependent control gains were found by Powell's method to maximize the minimum modal damping ratio for the speed dependent linear model. An increase of 300 percent in stable speed operation was obtained for the sixth order linear system using passive control. Simulations were run to examine the effectiveness of the linear control law on nonlinear rotor models with bearing deadband. The maximum level of control effort (force) required by the control bearing to stabilize the rotor at speeds above the critical was determined for the models with bearing deadband

Design, Modeling, and Geometric Control on SE(3) of a Fully-Actuated Hexarotor for Aerial Interaction

In this work we present the optimization-based design and control of a fully-actuated omnidirectional hexarotor. The tilt angles of the propellers are designed by maximizing the control wrench applied by the propellers. This maximizes (a) the agility of the UAV, (b) the maximum payload the UAV can hover with at any orientation, and (c) the interaction wrench that the UAV can apply to the environment in physical contact. It is shown that only axial tilting of the propellers with respect to the UAV's body yields optimal results. Unlike the conventional hexarotor, the proposed hexarotor can generate at least 1.9 times the maximum thrust of one rotor in any direction, in addition to the higher control torque around the vehicle's upward axis. A geometric controller on SE(3) is proposed for the trajectory tracking problem for the class of fully actuated UAVs. The proposed controller avoids singularities and complexities that arise when using local parametrizations, in addition to being invariant to a change of inertial coordinate frame. The performance of the controller is validated in simulation.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, ICRA201

Quadrotor control for persistent surveillance of dynamic environments

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston UniversityThe last decade has witnessed many advances in the field of small scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In particular, the quadrotor has attracted significant attention. Due to its ability to perform vertical takeoff and landing, and to operate in cluttered spaces, the quadrotor is utilized in numerous practical applications, such as reconnaissance and information gathering in unsafe or otherwise unreachable environments. This work considers the application of aerial surveillance over a city-like environment. The thesis presents a framework for automatic deployment of quadrotors to monitor and react to dynamically changing events. The framework has a hierarchical structure. At the top level, the UAVs perform complex behaviors that satisfy high- level mission specifications. At the bottom level, low-level controllers drive actuators on vehicles to perform the desired maneuvers. In parallel with the development of controllers, this work covers the implementation of the system into an experimental testbed. The testbed emulates a city using physical objects to represent static features and projectors to display dynamic events occurring on the ground as seen by an aerial vehicle. The experimental platform features a motion capture system that provides position data for UAVs and physical features of the environment, allowing for precise, closed-loop control of the vehicles. Experimental runs in the testbed are used to validate the effectiveness of the developed control strategies