Experimental Study of Quadrotor Cyclocopter

摘要

Recently, a quadrotor cyclocopter that weighs about 13 kg was designed and manufactured. Many components werernimproved from earlier cyclocopters, including mainframe, power unit, transmission part, hub-spoke structure andrnrotor control mechanism. Ground and tethered flight tests were conducted prior to the free flight of the vehicle. Therntest bed, consisting of load cells, a tachometer and a digital power meter, measures vertical and horizontal forces,rnelectric consumed power and rotational speed. The ground tests showed rotor performance and differences betweenrnsingle and multiple rotor cases, while proving a capability of the quadrotor cyclocopter for a free flight. Before therntethered flight tests, a flight control system that executes established attitude control scheme on control mechanismrnof each rotor was installed on the cyclocopter. Gains of simple PID algorithm embedded in flight control systemrnwere adjusted during the tethered flight tests. The quadrotor cyclocopter eventually fulfilled a stable hover and lowspeedrnlevel flight and showed a great potential for an extended maneuvering capability.