• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.542-550
• /
• 2021

As the application of multirotor grows, the demands for multirotor that can fly longer and load more are increasing. Hydrogen has a high energy density, so it can satisfy these demands when used in multirotor. In order to design hydrogen fueled multirotor that satisfies the desired flight time and payload, it is important to calculate the specifications of a fuel cell, battery, and hydrogen storage system. This paper contains detailed information on various energy systems used in multirotor and fuel cell powered multirotor research trends. This study proposed a sizing calculation method that meets the target flight time and payload using thrust and power equations. It has been explained how the two equations derive the particular specifications. The specifications of the multirotor were derived by assuming a payload of 50 kg and a flight time of 1 hour. In addition, the effects of the values of the fuel cell, hydrogen storage system, and motor propeller were analyzed.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.740-756
• /
• 2017

This paper proposes a feedback-linearization-based control algorithm for multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The feedback linearization scheme is highly efficient for considering nonlinearity between the rotational and translational motion of multirotor UAVs. We also propose a dynamic equation that reflects the aerodynamic effects of the vehicles; the equation's parameters can be determined through curve fitting using actual flight data. We derive the feedback linearization controller from the proposed dynamic equation, and propose a Luenberger observer to attenuate measurement noises. The proposed algorithm is implemented using our in-house flight control computer, and we describe its implementation in detail. To investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm, we carry out two flight scenarios: the first scenario, an autonomous landing on a moving platform, is a test of maneuverability; the second, picking up and replacing an object, test the algorithm's accuracy. In these scenarios, the proposed algorithm precisely controls multirotor UAVs, and we confirm that it can be successfully applied to real flight environments.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.47 no.7
• /
• pp.469-478
• /
• 2019

Multirotor configurations such as VTOL and urban air mobility have been focused on today due to the high maneuverability. Aerodynamic and aeroacoustic characteristics of multirotor have much difference to those of a single rotor. In this study, a numerical analysis based on the free wake vortex lattice method is used for identifying the wake interaction effect. In order to compare the various configurations and operating conditions, the effects of the spacing between the rotors in hovering flight and the effects of the advancing ratio and the formation in forward flight are discussed. In the hovering flight, the unsteady loading of multirotor changes periodically and loading fluctuation increases as decreasing the spacing. It causes the variation in unsteady loading noise and the noise directivity pattern. In the forward flight, the difference in loading fluctuation and noise characteristics are observed according to the diamond and square formation of rotors. By comparing with results of single rotor analysis, multirotor configurations have different directivity pattern and amplitude of loading noise according to the location of each rotor. As a result, wake interaction effect becomes a highly important factor for aerodynamic and aeroacoustic analysis according to multirotor configurations and operating conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.499-508
• /
• 2016

This paper describes a study of performance prediction of an electric propulsion system for multirotor UAVs. The electric propulsion system consists of motors, propellers, batteries and speed controllers, and significantly affects performance characteristics of the platform. The performance of the electric propulsion system for multirotor UAVs was predicted using an analytical model derived from the characteristics of each component, operation experiments and statistical analyses. Ground performance tests and endurance flights were performed to verify the reliability of the proposed performance prediction method. A quadrotor platform was designed to demonstrate the parcel delivery service used in the endurance flight. From the result of verification tests, it was confirmed that the proposed method has a good agreement.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.321-328
• /
• 2018

This paper presents an automatic target tracking flight system using a PID controller based on velocity command of a multirotor UAV. The automatic flight system includes marker based onboard target detection and an automatic velocity command generation replacing manual controller. A quad-rotor UAV is equipped with a camera and an image processing computer to detect the marker in real time and to estimate the relative distance from the target. The marker tracking system consists of PID controller and generates velocity command based on the relative distance. The generated velocity command is used as the input of the UAV's original flight controller. The operation of the proposed system was verified through actual flight tests using a marker on top of a moving vehicle and tracks it to successfully demonstrate its capability using a quad-rotor UAV.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
• /
• 2012.10a
• /
• pp.541-544
• /
• 2012

In technology advances, The field of military and security surveillance system for a wide range of interest is required. Surveillance system offers a variety of services by the software that work with a remote access server. This paper shows the results of the implementation using three platforms as Mjpg-streamer for server, Arduino-multiwii for control system, OpenNI and OpenCV for image processing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.42 no.10
• /
• pp.842-850
• /
• 2014

This paper presents a trajectory tracking controller for rotorcraft UAVs to improve the tracking performances in the presence of various uncertainties. The proposed tracking method consists of a velocity guidance law based on the relative distance and L1 adaptive augmentation loop for tracking the velocity commands. In the proposed structure, the desired velocity generated by the guidance law is the reference value of the adaptive controller for accurate path tracking. In the guidance law, the desired acceleration is generated based on the relative distance and its derivatives, and then the velocity command of the inner control loop is calculated by integrating the accelerations. $L_1$ augmentation loop supplements the linear controller to guarantee the flight performances such as a tracking accuracy in the presence of the uncertainties. The proposed controller was validated in actual flight tests to successfully demonstrate its capability using a quadrotor UAV.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2021

As sensors such as Inertial Measurement Unit, cameras, and Light Detection and Rangings have become cheaper and smaller, research has been actively conducted to implement functions automating micro aerial vehicles such as multirotor type drones. This would fully enable the autonomous flight of drones in the real world without human intervention. In this article, we present a survey of state-of-the-art development on autonomous drones. To build an autonomous drone, the essential components can be classified into pose estimation, environmental perception, and obstacle-free trajectory generation. To describe the trend, we selected three leading research groups-University of Pennsylvania, ETH Zurich, and Carnegie Mellon University-which have demonstrated impressive experiment results on automating drones using their estimation, perception, and trajectory generation techniques. For each group, we summarize the core of their algorithm and describe how they implemented those in such small-sized drones. Finally, we present our up to date research status on developing an autonomous drone.