This paper presents a solution to on-board trajectory tracking control of quadrotors. The proposed approach combines the standard hierarchical control paradigm that separates the control into low-level motor control, mid-level attitude dynamics control, and a high-level trajectory tracking with a model predictive control strategy. We use dynamic reduction of the attitude dynamics and dynamic ex...

In this paper, we present the design of the Omnicopter, a micro aerial vehicle (MAV) with two central counter-rotating coaxial propellers for thrust and yaw control and three perimetermounted variable angle ducted fans to control roll and pitch. First, a dynamic model of the robot is established using the Euler-Lagrange formalism. Next, we focus on the attitude control for a special operating c...

This paper presents results from the attitude control optimization for a small-scale helicopter by using an identified model of the vehicle dynamics that explicitly accounts for the coupled rotor/stabilizer/fuselage (r/s/f) dynamics. The accuracy of the model is verified by showing that it successfully predicts the performance of the control system currently used for Carnegie Mellon’s autonomou...

This paper focuses at the dynamics of attitude change in large groups. A multi-agent computer simulation has been developed as a tool to study hypothesis we take to study these dynamics. A major extension in comparison to earlier models is that Social Judgment Theory is being formalized to incorporate processes of assimilation and contrast in persuasion processes. Results demonstrate that the a...

In this work we study the attitude dynamics and the control of legged robots using tail-like appendages during the aerial phases of high speed locomotion. A free floating two-body system is used to describe the dynamics of a large body controlling its attitude using a rotating appendage. The equations of motion for a tail and a reaction wheel are given, and the meaning of the generalized coordi...

This paper deals with the position control of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) without linear velocity measurements. We propose a multistage constructive procedure, exploiting the cascade property of the translational and rotational dynamics. More precisely, we consider the force as a virtual control input for the translational dynamics, from which we extract...

Gradient-based multidisciplinary optimization is applied to a small satellite design problem. A novel MDO framework is developed by adopting a non-conventional definition of components which yields two key benefits for solving multidisciplinary analysis and optimization problems. The first is a unified solver which generalizes many existing methods for solving nonlinear and linear systems, and ...

This paper is concerned with on-board real-time position and rate prediction of the spacecraft centre-of-mass as input data to local orbital frame (LORF) determination for Low-Earth Orbit drag-free satellites. Study and simulation results are justified by Drag-Free and Attitude Control of the GOCE satellite (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer), the LORF being the instanta...