Meccanica delle Macchine M

Dynamics Applications:
Dynamics of Multi-DOF Systems
 Dynamics Applications

1. Dynamics of a 3-DOF serial robot

Model, kinematic analysis, external and internal forces, inverse dynamics,
energetic balance, numerical example.

2. Dynamics of a quadcopter
Features, parametrization of the pose, rotor aerodynamics, actuation forces and
torques, inverse dynamics, example: quadcopter on a circular trajectory, forward
dynamics.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Features
Advantages of multi-rotor aerial
vehicles (MRAV) versus helicopters:
highly maneuverable;
structurally simple, low cost;
improved payload and reliability.

Applications:
rescue, agriculture, delivery;
energy, utilities, mining,
construction;
real estate, news media,
film production.
Mellinger and Kumar, ICRA 2011 video
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Quadcopters
Rotors usually come in pairs, i.e. 4, 6, 8; the most common MRAV is the quadcopter.
The axes of all rotors are aligned with a common direction, say .
Collectively, rotors can produce torque along an arbitrary direction, but only force
along the positive direction (thrust force); as a result, the MRAV cannot effectively
decelerate along the positive direction, thus relying on gravity to pull it down.
Position and orientation are coupled and cannot be controlled independently.
The magnitudes of the generated force and torque are controlled by the rotor
speeds, which are limited.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Variable-pitch quadcopters
Unlike helicopters, quadcopters have normally a fixed pitch angle of their blades.
An additional servo motor can be employed to control the blade pitch,
resulting in a variable-pitch MRAV.
Variable-pitch quadcopters have better dynamic performances than their
fixed-pitch counterparts, since now force and torque magnitudes can be controlled
by both the rotor speed and the blade pitch.
Nevertheless, a variable-pitch MRAV still has only 4 controllable d.o.f.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Aerial vehicles with more than four rotors:

Hexacopters and octacopters have similar dynamics in comparison with
quadcopters.
They are mainly used for larger payload, improved agility, and improved
stability against wind disturbance.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Tilting-rotor quadcopters
Each rotor axis may be tilted by an additional servo motor, thus generating a
thrust force along a controllable direction.
The MRAV has now 8 actuated inputs, which may control all 6 d.o.f. of the vehicle.
Today, the standard quadcopter remains the most popular MRAV.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Parametrization of the pose
Two coordinate systems are established:
an inertial frame ;
a frame attached to the vehicle,
with origin in the center of mass .
Generalized coordinates for the position:

Generalized coordinates for the orientation ( Euler-angles convention):

rotation about the -axis: (roll);
rotation about the -axis: (pitch);
rotation about the -axis: (yaw).
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Rotation matrix between and (Ch. 2, Euler-angles convention):

Orientation of rotor axes in :

The roll and the pitch angles, and , orient the rotor axes direction (and thus
the thrust force) in space, whereas the yaw angle orient the airframe around .
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Vehicles angular velocity in (Ch. 3, slide 30):

Vehicles angular acceleration in (Ch. 3, slide 47):

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Rotor aerodynamics
rotor blade radius:
rotor angular velocity:
apparent wind speed at a distance : =

blade B: Blade B

blade A:

Blade A
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Lift force (per unit length) on a pair of

sections at a distance from the rotor axis:
2 , =
Drag torque (per unit length) on a pair of
sections at a distance from the rotor axis:

, =2 , =
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Rotors thrust force and reaction torque:

Thrust and torque coefficients:

Lift and drag force distributions
on the blade
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Actuation forces and torques
for rotor 1 and 3 (counterclockwise)
Rotors rotation direction:
for rotor 2 and 4 (clockwise)

Rotors thrust forces and reaction torques:

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Resultant actuation force or thrust:

where:

The quadcopter may generate a thrust

force only in the positive direction.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Resultant actuation moment about :

The quadcopter may generate an actuation moment about any direction in space.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Generalized actuation forces:

a force applied in along :

a pure moment :
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Dynamic equilibrium equations
Force equilibrium:

The copter orientation cannot be arbitrary.

Direction must be oriented so as to be
aligned with vector :

The magnitude of the thrust force must be:

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Moment equilibrium projected in :

where:

Since the quadcopter is symmetric w.r.t. the

body-fixed coordinate planes and , all
inertia products in are zero, namely:

Furthermore, due to symmetry reasons, usually: = =

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Hence:
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Inverse dynamics
The force equilibrium allows the rotor direction and the thrust force to be
determined for a desired trajectory :

The knowledge of allows the computation of the roll an pitch angle ( ) and ( ):
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

The moment equilibrium allows the computation of the actuation torques for:
a desired trajectory and the corresponding time functions ( ) and ( );
a desired motion for the yaw angle.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

The quadcopter is a an under-actuated system:

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Steps for solving the inverse dynamics:

2 4
input

intermediate
computation
3
output
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Example: quadcopter on a circular trajectory
Horizontal circular trajectory with constantly zero yaw angle:
Start (end)
point

Since the input torques are functions of the 4th-order derivatives of ( ), ( )

and ( ), if the designed trajectory is not smooth enough, we end up requiring
the input torques to be discontinuous, with the following problems:
rotors reaction torque cannot abruptly change, due to rotor dynamics;
torque jumps may cause vibrations.
It is customary to choose the quadcopter trajectories to be made up by
(piecewise) 7th-degree polynomials, since this leads to smooth acceleration and
jerk (3rd derivative), and a bounded snap (4th derivative).
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Time profile of parameter ( ):

with boundary conditions (the quadcopter motion begins and ends with a halt):
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
The first four conditions yield , , and :

Solving for the remaining coefficients provides , , and :

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Complete trajectory of the quadcopters centre of mass:

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Numerical example:
2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Quadcopters inertial parameters:

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Thrust force:

Note that, at = 0, the thrust

force is:
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Actuation torques:

Note that is discontinuous

at the beginning and at the end
of the trajectory.
This is due to the discontinuity
of and, thus, of at = 0.
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Desired rotor speeds:

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter

Forward dynamics
Motion equations must be written in state-form to be numerically solved:
 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
State variables of the quadcopter:

State form of the equation of motion:

 2 Dynamics of a quadcopter
Solving forward dynamics using ode45:

Simulation result:
 Prof. Marco Carricato
DIN
marco.carricato@unibo.it
http://grab.diem.unibo.it/
www.unibo.it/docenti/marco.carricato