Modelling and controller prototyping for Unmanned Vertical Take off and Landing (UVTOL) vehicles

This paper describes a methodology to parameterize linear, time invariant (LTI) models which represent the dynamics of UVTOLs and that are appropriate for analytical development of controllers. The models' validity was tested against real telemetry from two vehicles, a mini-helicopter and a quad-rotor. The experiments show that despite its inherent limitations the LTI models are suitable for modeling the complex dynamics of aerial vehicles. Different LTI models for the mini-helicopter's stationary, lateral and longitudinal flights were obtained. Similarly, given the geometrical and dynamic characteristics of the quad-rotor no distinction is made between stationary, lateral and longitudinal flights, and only one LTI model was obtained, which represents the overall dynamic behavior of the vehicle. Because of their relative simplicity these models were used to design analytical controllers and to obtain different controller prototypes in a quick and simple way to evaluate the UVTOL's performance in different flight conditions.