A Multi-VTOL Modular Aspect Ratio Reconfigurable Aerial Robot

摘要

This work presents a novel Aspect Ratio-Modular Vertical Take-Off and Landing (ARM-VTOL) aerial robot, which is a meta-aircraft composed of two or more TiltRotor hybrid aircraft systems capable of magnetically being coupled during hovering flight, and of executing VTOL / Fixed-Wing hybrid missions once combined. The proposed meta-aircraft system carries the advantage of improved aerodynamic efficiency due its increased cumulative planform aspect ratio, which can be leveraged to achieve prolonged flight times in collaborative multi-vehicle flight. We propose an extendable methodology for its control which relies on the multi-body equivalent dynamics, and we present the coupling mechanism design that facilitates its experimental demonstration. We accompany these contributions with a field test-driven evaluation study conducted with a bi-vehicle ARM-VTOL prototype. The presented sequence includes vehicle-to-vehicle magnetic coupling during hovering flight, and is followed by a combined-vehicle mission comprising vertical climb, VTOL-forward transition, fixed-wing flight and maneuvering, and reverse-transition to VTOL and landing.