Rigid airborne docking between a fixed-wing UAV and an over-actuated multicopter
J.J.E. Laffita van den Hove d'Ertsenryck (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Ewoud Smeur – Mentor (TU Delft - Control & Simulation)
Bart Diane Walter Remes – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Control & Simulation)
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Abstract
Fixed-wing aircraft fly longer, faster, and further than rotorcraft, but cannot take off or land vertically. Hybrid drones combine VTOL with a wing for forward flight, but the hovering system generally makes them less efficient than a pure fixed-wing. We propose an alternative, in which a rotorcraft is used to assist the fixed-wing UAV with the VTOL portions of the flight. This paper takes the first steps towards this alternative by developing and testing an overactuated rotorcraft that can autonomously dock onto a target at fixed-wing velocities. The control system uses Incremental Non-Linear Dynamic Inversion Control (INDI) to achieve linear accelerations with lateral and longitudinal motors, enabling robust horizontal control independent of attitude. A relative guidance algorithm for the docking approach path is presented, along with a vision sensing approach using ArUco markers and IR LEDs. Successful docking and separation were achieved in the wind tunnel at speeds of up to $15$m/s.