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Autopilot design of a class of miniature autonomous blimps enabled by switched controllers

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Abstract

The Georgia Tech Miniature Autonomous Blimp (GT-MAB) is developed as an indoor flying robot for education and research. The GT-MAB features extended flight duration and safety for human–robot interaction. The influence of aerodynamics on the blimp is significant and must be considered to achieve autonomous flying. This paper presents the mathematical modeling, system identification, and a switched controller design approach to achieve waypoint and line following behaviors for the GT-MAB. The switched controllers incorporate a scheduling algorithm to handle uncertainties of propeller efficiency and asymmetric envelope. Experiments have demonstrated that the proposed controllers enable flights that collect light measurements in a lab environment. The collected data is used to establish a 3D map of light intensity in a closed space.

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Funding

Funding was provided by Office of Naval Research (N00014-19-1-2556, N00014-19-1-2266, N00014-16-1-2667), National Science Foundation (OCE-1559475, CNS-1828678, S&AS-1849228), U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (N00173-17-1-G001, N00173-19-P-1412), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NA16NOS0120028).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Guidance and Control, Agency for Defense Development, Daejeon, 34186, South Korea

    Sungjin Cho

  2. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Qiuyang Tao, Paul Varnell, Sean Maxon & Fumin Zhang

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  1. Sungjin Cho
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  2. Qiuyang Tao
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  3. Paul Varnell
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  4. Sean Maxon
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  5. Fumin Zhang
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Correspondence to Fumin Zhang.

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Cho, S., Tao, Q., Varnell, P. et al. Autopilot design of a class of miniature autonomous blimps enabled by switched controllers. Int J Intell Robot Appl 6, 385–396 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41315-022-00230-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41315-022-00230-6

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