Design and Control of A Tilt-Rotor Tailsitter Aircraft with Pivoting VTOL Capability
Fuente:
arXiv
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1866917998379401216 |
|---|---|
| author | Ma, Ziqing Smeur, Ewoud J. J. de Croon, Guido C. H. E. |
| author_facet | Ma, Ziqing Smeur, Ewoud J. J. de Croon, Guido C. H. E. |
| contents | Tailsitter aircraft attract considerable interest due to their capabilities of both agile hover and high speed forward flight. However, traditional tailsitters that use aerodynamic control surfaces face the challenge of limited control effectiveness and associated actuator saturation during vertical flight and transitions. Conversely, tailsitters relying solely on tilting rotors have the drawback of insufficient roll control authority in forward flight. This paper proposes a tilt-rotor tailsitter aircraft with both elevons and tilting rotors as a promising solution. By implementing a cascaded weighted least squares (WLS) based incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion (INDI) controller, the drone successfully achieved autonomous waypoint tracking in outdoor experiments at a cruise airspeed of 16 m/s, including transitions between forward flight and hover without actuator saturation. Wind tunnel experiments confirm improved roll control compared to tilt-rotor-only configurations, while comparative outdoor flight tests highlight the vehicle's superior control over elevon-only designs during critical phases such as vertical descent and transitions. Finally, we also show that the tilt-rotors allow for an autonomous takeoff and landing with a unique pivoting capability that demonstrates stability and robustness under wind disturbances. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_02158 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Design and Control of A Tilt-Rotor Tailsitter Aircraft with Pivoting VTOL Capability Ma, Ziqing Smeur, Ewoud J. J. de Croon, Guido C. H. E. Robotics Tailsitter aircraft attract considerable interest due to their capabilities of both agile hover and high speed forward flight. However, traditional tailsitters that use aerodynamic control surfaces face the challenge of limited control effectiveness and associated actuator saturation during vertical flight and transitions. Conversely, tailsitters relying solely on tilting rotors have the drawback of insufficient roll control authority in forward flight. This paper proposes a tilt-rotor tailsitter aircraft with both elevons and tilting rotors as a promising solution. By implementing a cascaded weighted least squares (WLS) based incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion (INDI) controller, the drone successfully achieved autonomous waypoint tracking in outdoor experiments at a cruise airspeed of 16 m/s, including transitions between forward flight and hover without actuator saturation. Wind tunnel experiments confirm improved roll control compared to tilt-rotor-only configurations, while comparative outdoor flight tests highlight the vehicle's superior control over elevon-only designs during critical phases such as vertical descent and transitions. Finally, we also show that the tilt-rotors allow for an autonomous takeoff and landing with a unique pivoting capability that demonstrates stability and robustness under wind disturbances. |
| title | Design and Control of A Tilt-Rotor Tailsitter Aircraft with Pivoting VTOL Capability |
| topic | Robotics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.02158 |