Invention:
This invention contains motion and control models for a deformable copter-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (DCU). These models expand a drone’s capabilities of safe and aggressive deformation in constrained environments and enable tracking control that is decomposed into force and altitude controls and presented as quadratic programming problems. The UAV can generate distributed control force and moment vectors in any direction in 3D, thus it has better stability and tracking performance, can resiliently operate under partial failures, and has better robustness against external disturbances, such as wind and inclement weather.
Background:
Motion and control models for deformable and/or morphing drones that can adapt to changing environments have widespread use cases in many major industries associated with UAVs/DCUs including agriculture, rescue, industrial inspection, defense, logistics, delivery, film/entertainment, and environmental monitoring/conservation. Growth in the market can be attributed to the increasing demand for versatile drones across all industries and the decreasing cost of designing and manufacturing DCUs. While the market is still developing, deformable and/or morphing UAVs already come in a diverse range of sizes and shapes that enable VTOL/horizontal flight switching, enhanced maneuverability, and/or new monitoring capabilities.
Applications:
- Mathematical force and altitude control
- UAV motion and control model engineering
- Autonomous/intelligent vehicle components
Advantages:
- Ability to deform and maneuver in tight spaces
- Increased safety due to the ability to avoid obstacles
- Improved agility and speed compared to traditional drones
- Better stability and tracking performance
- Can operate under partial failures
- Operates in harsh environments where traditional drones would not be able to function
- Better resiliency against external disturbances
