Force-Canceling Mixer Algorithm for Vehicles with Fully-Articulated Radially Symmetric Thruster Arrays

<p>A new type of fully-holonomic aerial vehicle is identified and developed that can optionally utilize automatic cancellation of excessive thruster forces to maintain precise control despite little or no throttle authority. After defining the physical attributes of the new vehicle, a flight control mixer algorithm is defined and presented. This mixer is an input/output abstraction that grants a flight control system (or pilot) full authority of the vehicle's position and orientation by means of an input translation vector and input torque vector. The mixer is shown to be general with respect to the number of thrusters in the system provided that they are distributed in a radially symmetric array. As the mixer is designed to operate independently of the chosen flight control system, it is completely agnostic to the type of control methodology implemented. Validation of both the vehicle's holonomic capabilities and efficacy of the flight control mixing algorithm are provided by a custom MATLAB-based rigid body simulation environment.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Casabona, Joseph Nicholas

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kimon Valavanis, Ph.D.
• Micheal Keables, Ph.D.
• Mohammad Mahoor
• Mathew Rutherford
• K.D. Kim

• Holonomic
• Multirotor
• Quadrotor
• Thrust vectoring
• UAS
• UAV
• Unmanned aerial vehicles
• Unmanned aircraft systems
• Robotics
• Systems Engineering

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1402

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-2402