Control of an unmanned aerial hybrid airship-quadcopter vehicle
Bianca Isabela Gomes1; Marcio Guilherme Martins1; Marcus Vinicius Barbosa de Morais1; Rafael Rodrigo Marione1; Alexandre Brincalepe Campo1
1 Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia São Paulo
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-0862
Resumo
Combining key characteristics of devices that already exist could introduce an innovative product that would be applicable to many fields of study and create a whole new type of technology. Rotatory-wing aircrafts like helicopters and drones have recently received a lot of attention from researchers and many papers have been published about control models and improvements for those vehicles. Those aerial vehicles can be used in applications such as surveillance, remote hovering tasks and when high maneuvering ability is required. Lighter-than-air vehicles can also be used for similar applications, despite the differences between them. While drones and helicopters are known for high speed and maneuverability, the main characteristics of airships are flight stability and low power requirements. The purpose of this article is to study how those two vehicles can be combined into an hybrid aircraft that is light, easily maneuverable and controlled and also have flight stability at low speed saving energy when hovering. Simulation tests were performed in order to compare the behavior of the aircraft with and without the ballons, which will introduce the airship characteristics. The results of these simulations are presented and analyzed to validate the benefits of the new model proposed here. Guidance for further studies in this area is also given by the end of the paper.
Palavras-chave: Airship; Quadcopter; Hybrid; Control; UAV