Design, dynamic modelling and control of tilt-rotor UAVs: a review

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to give reviews on the platform modeling and design of a controller for autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) tilt rotor hybrid unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Nowadays, UAVs have experienced remarkable progress and can be classified into two main types, i.e. fixed-wing UAVs and VTOL UAVs. The mathematical model of tilt rotor UAV is time variant, multivariable and non-linear in nature. Solving and understanding these plant models is very complex. Developing a control algorithm to improve the performance and stability of a UAV is a challenging task.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper gives a thorough description on modeling of VTOL tilt rotor UAV from first principle theory. The review of the design of both linear and non-linear control algorithms are explained in detail. The robust flight controller for the six degrees of freedom UAV has been designed using H-infinity optimization with loop shaping under external wind and aerodynamic disturbances.

Findings

This review will act as a basis for the future work on modeling and control of VTOL tilt rotor UAV by the researchers. The development of self-guided and fully autonomous UAVs would result in reducing the risk to human life. Civil applications include inspection of rescue teams, terrain, coasts, border patrol buildings, police and pipelines. The simulation results show that the controller achieves robust stability, good adaptability and robust performance.

Originality/value

The review articles on quadrotors/quadcopters, hybrid UAVs can be found in many literature, but there are comparatively a lesser amount of review articles on the detailed description of VTOL Tilt rotor UAV. In this paper modeling, platform design and control algorithms for the tilt rotor are presented. A robust H-infinity loop shaping controller in the presence of disturbances is designed for VTOL UAV.

Citation

Hegde, N.T., George, V.I., Nayak, C.G. and Kumar, K. (2020), "Design, dynamic modelling and control of tilt-rotor UAVs: a review", International Journal of Intelligent Unmanned Systems, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 143-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJIUS-01-2019-0001