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Integrating anti-swing controller with px4 autopilot for quadrotor with suspended load

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Abstract

Multi-rotor flying vehicles (MRFVs) are increasingly becoming the preferred means of transportation in various civilian and military applications, such as mine detection, reconnaissance missions, agriculture, and load transfer to areas inaccessible to ground vehicles. In these applications, the payload is suspended underneath the vehicle and subjected to large oscillations because of external disturbances or the vehicle’s acceleration. This study proposes an anti-swing controller (ASC) based on time-delayed feedback of the load swing angles to be implemented in MRFVs with suspended load and operated by a PX4 autopilot. The PX4 autopilot is now widely used in commercial drones. The implementation of the proposed ASC does not require any modifications to the original PX4 firmware because it adds additional displacements to the original trajectories of MRFVs. The effectiveness of the ASC is evaluated by simulating a quadrotor as an example of MRFVs with different flight conditions.

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Abbreviations

a :

Acceleration, m/s2

b :

Base length, m

C df :

Force drag coefficients

C dm :

Moment drag coefficients

C m :

Motor torque constant, N.m.s2

C t :

Motor thrust constant, N.s2

d :

Quadrotor arm length, m

F :

Force, N

g :

Gravitational constants, m/s2

I B :

Inertia matrix in the body frame, Kg.m2

J m :

Moment of inertia of the motor, Kg.m2

L :

Load cable length

m :

Mass of the quadrotor, Kg

R :

Load position vector, m

V :

Velocity, m/s

ω :

Angular velocity vector, rad/sec

ξ :

Position vector, m

Ψ :

Yaw angle, rad

Ω :

Motor rotational speed, rad/s

ρ :

Air density, Kg/m3

θ :

Pitch angle, rad

τ :

Torque, Nm

φ :

Roll angle, rad

L :

Load

D :

Drag

M :

Motor

h :

Hook

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Qassim University, represented by the Deanship of Scientific Research, on the financial support under the number (5430-qec-2019-2-2-I) during the academic year 1440 AH/2019 AD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qassim University, Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia

    Hanafy M. Omar & Saad M. S. Mukras

Authors
  1. Hanafy M. Omar
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  2. Saad M. S. Mukras
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hanafy M. Omar.

Additional information

Hanafy Omar is a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the Aerospace Engineering Department, Cairo University, Egypt and his Ph.D. from the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department, Virginia Tech, USA. His research areas include flight dynamics, vibration, intelligent control, guidance, and evolutionary optimization. He is the author of two books and six registered patents in missile guidance and multirotor vehicles.

Saad. M.S. Mukras is currently an Assistant Professor at Qassim University in the Mechanical Engineering Department. He graduated with a Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida. He worked as a Research Associate at the Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization Laboratory before joining Qassim University. His research interests include numerical modeling of wear, modeling of multi-body systems experiencing wear, propagation of uncertainty, application of surrogate models, and design of experiments to engineering design.

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Omar, H.M., Mukras, S.M.S. Integrating anti-swing controller with px4 autopilot for quadrotor with suspended load. J Mech Sci Technol 36, 1511–1519 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-022-0237-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-022-0237-0

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