Multicopter Control Allocation for Predictable Saturation Behavior

Nicholas Moy from Beta Technologies will give a seminar on control allocation.

Abstract:

In traditional, fixed-wing aircraft, the ailerons, elevator, and rudder correspond roughly to the roll, pitch, and yaw axes of motion, rendering the control allocation problem (i.e. calculating actuator commands from desired body torques) near-trivial. In contrast, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft with non-traditional control surface configurations (e.g. v-tail) require multiple simultaneous inputs to achieve vehicle torque around a single Cartesian axis. Handling this coupling is challenging and is the responsibility of the flight software.

eVTOL aircraft with minimal performance margins bring with them the additional challenge of maintaining predictable vehicle behavior when operating propulsors at their limits. Posing control allocation as an optimization problem enables elegant and extensible system behavior. In this talk, we present a family of control allocation schemes that enforce limitations on torque, speed, and power.

Room: 219, Bldg: UVM Delehanty Hall, Burlington, Vermont, United States