Actuator control using pre-calibrated force data on a quadrocopter

Abstract: In flying robots, stability control is often very sensitive to the actuator performances, and the software module performing the controller, is usually subjected to a long and difficult tuning phase strongly dependent on the specific actuator used. The actuators are often electric motors equipped with propellers. The motor and propeller combination performs differently for every choice of components adopted, even if they are provided by the same vendor with the same part family. The project aims to develop an intelligent actuator module for flying robots composed by a BLDC motor and a propeller, which is invariant to the specific motor and propeller adopted. By gathering the force data of the four used on a quadrocopter, the force and control signal relation could be defined and stored into the program memory of the control board. A battery monitor and a Force-PWM controller was implemented such that it takes force as input and outputs the desired PWM-signal. Tests were made on a prototype of Iqarus quadrocopter and by mounting it with ropes to the floor, it was tested on the lift-off phase. The experiment showed theoretical and practical results, which concludes that the quadrocopter maintained the ability to lift right upwards without any remaining control, assuming proper weight balance of the quadrocopter.