Modeling, Flight Control, and Estimation for Multi-UAV Cooperative Lift Systems
Author(s)
Webb, Kevin Sean
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Abstract
Multi-UAV cooperative lift systems use multiple unmanned aerial vehicles to collectively lift and transport payloads. These systems have the potential to dramatically alleviate the logistical costs of aerial transportation missions from a scalability and portability standpoint. Unlike traditional single-vehicle logistics paradigms, targeted delivery of a large variety of payloads may be achieved by distributing lift capacity among several inexpensive aircraft. In order to fulfill a large span of missions with a high level of autonomy, cooperative aircraft must be capable of reliably docking to a single payload at multiple points and robustly stabilizing mid-flight when arranged in variable geometric configurations with unknown system parameters. This dissertation presents a novel adaptive flight control framework which uses an extended Kalman filter to update pertinent system parameters within a control allocation scheme. The work additionally expands upon a previously developed modular docking system which supports self-assembly in varied composite system geometries, accounting for multi-agent operation and optimizing design parameters through simulated trade studies. High-fidelity models and simulations are presented, leveraging techniques including multibody feedback linearization constraint stabilization and constraint-based impulse contact models in order to validate control strategies and optimize design in the presence of complex dynamics. This dissertation additionally presents experimental results for cooperative UAV flight control and parameter estimation.
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Date
2021-01-19
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Dissertation