Towards Flying Carpet: Dynamics Modeling, and Differential-Flatness-Based Control and Planning

Jiali Sun, Yushu Yu*, Bin Xu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aerial systems assembled from multiple modules have the potential to perform tasks that are difficult for traditional aerial vehicles. In this work, we propose a novel aerial system, Carpet, which is composed by a matrix of quadrotor modules. In Carpet, a column of quadrotor modules connects to the neighbouring column via revolute joints. By adjusting the joint angles, Carpet is capable of working in flight mode and terrestrial mode. This is the first time that UAV assembly with this configuration is analyzed. The terrestrial mode could potentially increase the energy efficiency of aerial systems. While in flight mode, Carpet can fold up or expand to adapt to different tasks or environments, e.g., curling up to U form can make it more compact and agile when passing through narrow channels. The dynamics of Carpet is investigated. It is found that the entire Carpet in flight mode can produce 5D force/torque, and the joints connecting columns do not need extra actuators. The differential flatness of Carpet is analyzed. The motion controller and the trajectory generator are designed based on the differential flatness. The proposed trajectory planning method is able to guide Carpet to pass through narrow corridors. Numerical simulations are presented, illustrating the feasibility of the proposed Carpet.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCognitive Systems and Information Processing - 7th International Conference, ICCSIP 2022, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsFuchun Sun, Angelo Cangelosi, Jianwei Zhang, Yuanlong Yu, Huaping Liu, Bin Fang
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages351-370
Number of pages20
ISBN (Print)9789819906161
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Event7th International Conference on Cognitive Systems and Information Processing, ICCSIP 2022 - Fuzhou, China
Duration: 17 Dec 202218 Dec 2022

Publication series

NameCommunications in Computer and Information Science
Volume1787 CCIS
ISSN (Print)1865-0929
ISSN (Electronic)1865-0937

Conference

Conference7th International Conference on Cognitive Systems and Information Processing, ICCSIP 2022
Country/TerritoryChina
CityFuzhou
Period17/12/2218/12/22

Keywords

  • Differential flatness control
  • Minimum-snap trajectory planning
  • Reconfigurable aerial systems

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Towards Flying Carpet: Dynamics Modeling, and Differential-Flatness-Based Control and Planning'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this