Related papers: Flying batteries: In-flight battery switching to i…

Energy sources such as batteries do not decrease in mass after consumption, unlike combustion-based fuels. We present the concept of staging energy sources, i.e. consuming energy in stages and ejecting used stages, to progressively reduce…

Tethered quadcopters are used for extended flight operations where the power to the system is provided via a tether connected to an external power source. In this work, we consider a system of multiple quadcopters powered by a single…

Majority of today's fixed-pitch, electric-power quadrotors have short flight endurance ($<$ 1 hour) which greatly limits their applications. This paper presents a design methodology for the construction of a long-endurance quadrotor using…

Quadrotor endurance is ultimately limited by battery behavior, yet most energy aware planning treats the battery as a simple energy reservoir and overlooks how flight motions induce dynamic current loads that accelerate battery degradation.…

Quadcopters have been studied for decades thanks to their maneuverability and capability of operating in a variety of circumstances. However, quadcopters suffer from dynamical nonlinearity, actuator saturation, as well as sensor noise that…

Payload grasping and transportation with quadcopters is an active research area that has rapidly developed over the last decade. To grasp a payload without human interaction, most state-of-the-art approaches apply robotic arms that are…

A quadcopter is an under-actuated system with only four control inputs for six degrees of freedom, and yet the human control of a quadcopter is simple enough to be learned with some practice. In this work, we consider the problem of human…

A novel quadcopter capable of changing shape mid-flight is presented, allowing for operation in four configurations with the capability of sustained hover in three. This is accomplished without requiring actuators beyond the four motors…

Battery endurance represents a key challenge for long-term autonomy and long-range operations, especially in the case of aerial robots. In this paper, we propose AutoCharge, an autonomous charging solution for quadrotors that combines a…

Multicopters are among the most versatile mobile robots. Their applications range from inspection and mapping tasks to providing vital reconnaissance in disaster zones and to package delivery. The range, endurance, and speed a multirotor…

We examine two configurations for parallel hybrid electric aircraft, one with, and one without, a mechanical connection between the engines and the electric motors. For this two designs, we then review the power allocation problem in the…

In this paper, we present a novel developmental reinforcement learning-based controller for a quadcopter with thrust vectoring capabilities. This multirotor UAV design has tilt-enabled rotors. It utilizes the rotor force magnitude and…

To properly simulate and implement a quadcopter flight control for intended load and flight conditions, the quadcopter model must have parameters on various relationships including propeller thrust-torque, thrust-PWM, and thrust--angular…

Interactional aerodynamics of a quadcopter in hover is numerically investigated in this study. The main objective is to understand major flow structures associated with unsteady airloads on multirotor aircraft. The overset mesh approach is…

We propose a novel, heterogeneous multi-agent architecture that miniaturizes rovers by outsourcing power generation to a central hub. By delegating power generation and distribution functions to this hub, the size, weight, power, and cost…

Multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle is a prevailing type of aircraft with wide real-world applications. Energy efficiency is a critical aspect of its performance, determining the range and duration of the missions that can be performed. In…

Propeller failure is a major cause of multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) crashes. While conventional multirotor systems struggle to address this issue due to underactuation, over-actuated platforms can continue flying with…

The Roller-Quadrotor is a novel quadrotor that combines the maneuverability of aerial drones with the endurance of ground vehicles. This work focuses on the design, modeling, and experimental validation of the Roller-Quadrotor. Flight…

Tiltrotors are an aircraft concept with the ability to rotate their rotors freely, achieving vertical take-off and fast forward flight. The combination of helicopter and fixed-wing flight into one aircraft provides versatility in mission…

This paper presents a lifting-wing multirotor UAV that allows long-range flight. The UAV features a lifting wing in a special mounting angle that works together with rotors to supply lift when it flies forward, achieving a reduction in…