Related papers: Modeling Aggregate Downwash Forces for Dense Multi…
Multirotors flying in close proximity induce aerodynamic wake effects on each other through propeller downwash. Conventional methods have fallen short of providing adequate 3D force-based models that can be incorporated into robust control…
Unmodeled aerodynamic disturbances pose a key challenge for multirotor flight when multiple vehicles are in close proximity to each other. However, certain missions \textit{require} two multirotors to approach each other within 1-2…
Flying multiple quadrotors in close proximity presents a significant challenge due to complex aerodynamic interactions, particularly downwash effects that are known to destabilize vehicles and degrade performance. Traditionally,…
Teams of flying robots can be used for inspection, delivery, and construction tasks, in which they might be required to fly very close to each other. In such close-proximity cases, nonlinear aerodynamic effects can cause catastrophic…
In this paper, we present Neural-Swarm, a nonlinear decentralized stable controller for close-proximity flight of multirotor swarms. Close-proximity control is challenging due to the complex aerodynamic interaction effects between…
We describe a method for formation-change trajectory planning for large quadrotor teams in obstacle-rich environments. Our method decomposes the planning problem into two stages: a discrete planner operating on a graph representation of the…
Flying quadrotors in tight formations is a challenging problem. It is known that in the near-field airflow of a quadrotor, the aerodynamic effects induced by the propellers are complex and difficult to characterize. Although machine…
The ground effect on multicopters introduces several challenges, such as control errors caused by additional lift, oscillations that may occur during near-ground flight due to external torques, and the influence of ground airflow on models…
We present Neural-Swarm2, a learning-based method for motion planning and control that allows heterogeneous multirotors in a swarm to safely fly in close proximity. Such operation for drones is challenging due to complex aerodynamic…
In this paper, we present an approach for controlling a team of agile fixed-wing aerial vehicles in close proximity to one another. Our approach relies on receding-horizon nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) to plan maneuvers across…
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…
This work addresses the practical problem of distributed formation tracking control of a group of quadrotor vehicles in a relaxed sensing graph topology with a very limited sensor set, where only one leader vehicle can access the global…
Tracking position and orientation independently affords more agile maneuver for over-actuated multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) while introducing undesired downwash effects; downwash flows generated by thrust generators may…
In this work, an experimental characterization of the configuration space of a soft, pneumatically actuated morphing quadrotor is presented, with a focus on precise thrust characterization of its flexible arms, considering the effect of…
We propose a combined method for the collaborative transportation of a suspended payload by a team of rotorcraft. A recent distance-based formation-motion control algorithm based on assigning distance disagreements among robots generates…
This work proposes a framework that generates and optimally selects task-specific assembly configurations for a large group of homogeneous modular aerial systems, explicitly enforcing bounds on inter-module downwash. Prior work largely…
The task of flying in tight formations is challenging for teams of quadrotors because the complex aerodynamic wake interactions can destabilize individual team members as well as the team. Furthermore, these aerodynamic effects are highly…
This paper presents a review of the design and application of model predictive control strategies for Micro Aerial Vehicles and specifically multirotor configurations such as quadrotors. The diverse set of works in the domain is organized…
The aim of this paper is to study how to apply deep reinforcement learning for the control of aggregates of minimalistic robots. We define aggregates as groups of robots with a physical connection that compels them to form a specified…
The significant components of any successful autonomous flight system are task completion and collision avoidance. Most deep learning algorithms successfully execute these aspects under the environment and conditions they are trained.…