Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 5 Issue 10, October-2016
Modelling and Simulation of a Multi-Quadcopter
Concept
Jaidev Sanketi, Rishika Kasliwal, Srinivasa Raghavan, Sundus Awan
School of Engineering
Emirates Aviation University
Dubai, UAE.
Abstract— This paper presents the modelling and simulation of
II. MULTI-QUADCOPTER DRONE
the flight dynamics of four physically linked, tilting
quadcopters. This conceptual drone is one that is composed of
four quadcopters connected to a rigid frame and allowed to tilt The proposed multi quadcopter design is similar in its
about a revolute hinge attached to the frame. This new design working to a single quadcopter however presents multiple
concept of a drone is not limited to a swarm of four quadcopters advantages over a simple quadcopter in some areas of
and can be extended to two or more. It is believed to encompass requirement. The design includes four individual quadcopters
several advantages, including enhanced stability, horizontal each with their own flight controllers, a central
flight, and a wide stabilized platform which can be used for in- microcontroller, and a frame which remains fixed during
flight power generation and payload. The tilting of each of the flight. The flight controller on each quadcopter acts as an
quadcopters is achieved using the rotors of the quadcopter itself
inertial measurement unit (IMU), controls the four electronic
and controlled using its flight controller. The flight stability and
control of the entire drone is achieved using the net thrust
speed controllers and hence the motors, uses the compass and
produced by the quadcopters’ rotors and is controlled using a GPS module in order to understand its position in space and
central flight controller which determines the required titling directional heading and most importantly serves as the means
angles and rotational speeds of each quadcopter. In this paper, of connection to the central microcontroller.
we develop a flight dynamics model of this drone. PID control
algorithms for the quadcopters’ tilting controllers and the entire
drone flight controller. The flight of the drone and its response
to instability is tested via simulation.
Keywords- Quadcopter; flight dynamics; simulation; flight
control
I. INTRODUCTION
A number of scholars have studied the relationship of
quadcopter modelling and its working mechanism. It consists
of two clockwise and two counter clockwise rotating motors
that are opposite each other. Roll, pitch and yaw is controlled
by varying motor speed. Figure 1. Block diagram illustrating the functional relationships in the Multi-
Quadcopter Drone
Conventionally, quadcopters or quad-rotors work with
varying RPM and VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing).
Through the central microcontroller, a link is created
Nemati and Kumar, in their research paper [4] studied the
between the four individual quadcopters on the frame. This
relationship between the tilting-rotor angles and derived the
relation enables the quadcopters to comprehend each other’s
quadcopter orientation using the dynamic model. The paper
position and the overall systems position in space. The central
explained the concept of motion and hovering with controlled
microcontroller, through the use of an algorithm that holds
pitch and roll angles that resulted in achieving desired
the controller, should be capable of assigning the flight
orientation of a quadcopter.
controllers specific instructions for each of the quadcopters
The multi tilting quadcopter design is unique in its
when an instability is detected in the frame or when motion
concept, that combines and distributes the work of one
needs to occur. When the quadcopter flight controller
quadcopter into many; performing as a single unit. With this
receives the instructions, they must follow through until it is
configuration, tilting rotor mechanism is applied to each
detected that the frame is in the correct position to perform
quadcopter, and they perform their function in response to
the required motion. This is detected through the IMUs of
take-off, cruise and landing of the physically connected
both the quadcopters and the microcontroller and the relation
quadcopters as a whole. This mechanism adds to a more
is one which is that of a feedback loop.
stable drone, doubling in strength and response methods.
The presence of the feedback system allows to control
each drone if necessary as an individual quadcopter and to
move opposite to external forces to stabilize the structure.
IJERTV5IS100419 www.ijert.org 566
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 5 Issue 10, October-2016
III. MATHEMATICAL MODELING
To analyze the flight dynamics of the multi-quadcopter
drone, we first consider the flight dynamics of one of the
quadcopters making the drone, then we consider the flight
dynamics of the drone as a whole.
A. Single Quadcopter Model
We assume all four quadcopters are identical. Each
quadcopter has four rotors which are driven by electric
motors. The rotational speed of the electric motors is
controlled by a flight controller (APM for example). Each
spinning rotor produces an upward thrust. Opposite rotors
spin in opposite directions to cancel out the resultant moment
arising from each. Rotors spinning clockwise, as viewed from
the top, produce a moment in the –z axis and the motors Figure 3. Orientation and numbering of quadcopters
spinning anti-clockwise direction produce a moment in the +z
axis. The quadcopters will be numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 as We restrict our model to the case in which each quad is
illustrated in Fig. (3). allowed to tilt only about its own y-axis ( ). Then, the
attitude of the quadcopter frame (q-frame) with respect to the
multi-quadcopter drone frame (b-frame) is given by the
following two successive rotations:
1. Rotation about -axis through angle
2. Rotation about -axis through angle
Then,
Figure 2. Single quadcopter axes and thrust vectors
Let ( be the body axes of the ith quadcopter, (3)
where i = 1, 2, 3, 4. We take to be pointing forward and
to be pointing upward (as shown in the figure).
We define the following rotor thrust vectors:
, i (quadcopter)= 1, 2, 3, 4, j (rotor) = 1, 2, 3, 4
Where in the ith quadcopter frame (q,i), we have the net Since is an orthogonal matrix, then the inverse rotation is
thrust and net moment vectors expressed in the quadcopter given by
frame as
(4)
, (1) The inertial frame is represented by W and the body
frame of the quadcopter is represented by B. The Euler angles
are defined by (pitch), (roll) and (yaw). Each motor
produces an upwards force, when it is spinning. Opposite
, (2) motors spin in opposite directions, to cancel out the resultant
moment arising from each. The motors spinning in the
clockwise direction, produce a moment in the –Z direction
Where is half the rotor-to-rotor side distance in each and the motors spinning in the anti-clockwise direction,
quadcopter; and k and km are the thrust and moment constants produce a moment in the +Z direction.
of the rotor, respectively. The rotational matrix for transformation from drone body
frame (b-frame) to inertial frame (w-frame) is given in terms
of the Euler’s angles ( ) as
(5)
Where
IJERTV5IS100419 www.ijert.org 567
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 5 Issue 10, October-2016
The relation between the rates of Euler’s angles and
angular velocity vector about body axes is
given by
(9)
We further conclude that
= (6)
We are only concerned with the rotational equations of
motion. So, we can express the rotational equations of motion
as
Where
(10)
Taking the We further consider the following special cases of
the quadcopter: Note that due to the spinning of the rotors, the pitching of
the quad will result in gyroscopic torque.
1) Special Case 1
The rotors of each quadcopter are assumed to spin in such a
way that the thrust vectors and moments will result in pure
pitching of the quadcopter about its own yq-axis. This implies
the following conditions: (11)
in such a way to maintain and ; then
1. and
2.
Therefore, the rotational equations of motion reduce to
Which results in
and ` (12)
Substituting this into the net thrust and moment vectors, we From which we can find as follows
get:
(13)
, (7)
Since we assume the quadcopter rotation is restricted except
for the pitching about the yq-axis, then
.
, (8)
Therefore, the rotational equations of motion reduce to
2) Special Case 2
If we further assume that the ith quad hinge is a frictionless, (15)
then when the quad reaches steady-state tilting attitude, we
will have Taking as the angular velocity of the motor and k as a
constant, the upward thrust produced by the motors can be
written as:
and , or in terms of rotor speeds
(16)
=
The equations of motion for each of the quadcopters can be
During the tilting of the quad, . However, pitch written as follows:
moment cannot be transferred through the hinge, and
therefore (17)
= -g + (18)
Each quadcopter is assumed to have symmetry about the
and planes. Thus, the inertia matrix will be
diagonal Similarly, the angular accelerations of the quadcopter are
given by the following:
IJERTV5IS100419 www.ijert.org 568
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 5 Issue 10, October-2016
The equations of motion for the drone are:
(19)
(24)
= (20)
= (25)
Taking km as the constant, the moment produced by the
rotating motors can be represented with respect to their We know that since ;
angular velocities, as below:
(21) = (26)
Since, there is no pitching, rolling or yawing moment during The equations of angular acceleration are given by the
hovering of a basic quadcopter, the values of are following equation:
assumed to be zero. Thus, substituting this in equation (3), it
gives us the following equation;
(27)
(22) The reason for only a single equation for angular acceleration
to exist is because the quadcopter only pitches and has no roll
The thrust from each drone is equal to the combined vertical or yaw.
thrusts of the four motors and are equal to the weight of the
quadcopter, when hovering: For our configuration, as the platform tilts, the forces from
the four quadcopters need to vary accordingly, to keep the
platform in hovering position. This is shown in the following
(23)
section.
B. Quad-quadcopter Configuration
In case of the concept configuration, it is composed of IV. CONTROL ALGORITHM
four quadcopters, arranged at the ends of a square-shaped
frame. The quadcopters are placed with their ‘faces’ T1 = T2, T3 = T4 for first quad and the same logic extends to
outwards, such that they all are pointing at four opposite all four. Thus, for the first quadcopter we can say that:
directions. The drones are placed on the static frame through
a hinge, which allows the drone to have only single axis and (28)
motion. This motion is the ability of the drone to pitch
forward and backward, around the y-axis. This angle is called Thus, the dynamic model can be made as:
‘ ’. For rolling motion (along x-axis), the angle along this
direction is called ‘ ’. For yawing motion (along z-axis), the
angle along this direction is called ‘ ’ The four drones in
their respective orientations, fitted on the square frame (29)
through their hinges form the basis of our configuration and
the model can be seen below:
The angular velocity for each rotor during hover can be
written in terms of the entire drone, as follows:
(30)
The change in angular velocities are established by the
following PD laws:
(31)
Figure 4. Orientation and numbering of quadcopters
(32)
IJERTV5IS100419 www.ijert.org 569
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 5 Issue 10, October-2016
(33)
The deviation in the z-axis is defined by the following control
law:
) (34)
Where ‘m’ is the mass of the quad, ‘kf’ is the lift constant,
‘Fn’ is the net force of each quad during hover and we get
from the following equation:
= d/dt ( ) (35)
Figure 6. Desired Pitch Angle Response Over Time
Thus, in this way the angular velocities of all 16 motors can Fig. 6 shows the desired pitch angle input from the drone
be controlled centrally to hover the drone in its position. dynamics. It can be inferred that the quad initially starts from
zero degree and it goes to about 12.3 degrees +
TABLE 1. Values of parameters used in the simulation.
which is slightly more than 20% overshoot. It then attains its
Fixed Parameters in Simulation
Parameter Value Unit settling time at 0.4 seconds.
g 9.81 m/s2
A. Disturbance Correction
m 5.3 kg
l 0.707 m
k 8.63 10-5 -
b 3.62 x 10-7 -
Ixx 3.24 kg m2
Iyy 6.34 kg m2
Izz 3.24 kg m2
Ax 0.30 kg/s
Ay 0.30 kg/s
Az 0.30 kg/s
Inertia Matrix for the platform: Figure 7: Disturbance Input Angle
Fig. 7 shows 5 degrees of disturbance angle.
=
V. SIMULATION RESULTS
Figure 8. Pitch Angle Correction Response over Time
Figure 5. Simulink Block Model Fig. 8 shows the longitudinal disturbance at about 5 degrees.
From the graph, it can be inferred that angle of the frame
To demonstrate if the above concept and mathematical model keeps changing till it is back to 0 degrees after which, the
works, Simulink was used as a program to test the drones at drone goes back to its initial pitch angle of 10 degrees.
different flight conditions. The outputs are plotted in graphs
as shown in Figs. 7-9.
IJERTV5IS100419 www.ijert.org 570
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 5 Issue 10, October-2016
Since the tilting of the quadcopters do not affect the attitude
of the entire drone, a central control system has been
established to co-relate the control of each quadcopter and the
system of four quadcopters as a single entity. For this, a novel
control algorithm was devised, which covers all aspects of
drone control by varying thrusts, angles (of quads) and
angular velocities (of motors). This, as simulation shows,
results in stable response to any destabilizing moment. This
also broadens the scope of how drones can work together and
perform singular tasks as a constellation, making this concept
Figure 9. Forces Correction Response over Time ideal for future research.
Fig. 9 shows the response of forces with time. As the REFERENCES
disturbance of 5 degrees is reached, the forces in the quad
[1] Burka, A. and Foster, S., 2012. Neato Quadcopters. URL: web. cs.
changes and makes sure that the drone attains the stable swarthmore. edu/~ meeden/cs81/s12/papers/AlexSethPaper. pdf
position. there was a saturation block that has been used so (handling date 12.01. 2015).
that the force lies within the limit. There is a constant [2] Hoffmann, G.M., Huang, H., Waslander, S.L. and Tomlin, C.J.,
response by the quad to any disturbance that are encountered. 2007, August. Quadrotor helicopter flight dynamics and control:
Theory and experiment. In Proc. of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation,
and Control Conference (Vol. 2).
VI. CONCLUSION [3] Leong, B.T.M., Low, S.M. and Ooi, M.P.L., 2012. Low-cost
microcontroller-based hover control design of a quadcopter.
This concept of tethered swarm robotics brings about a Procedia Engineering, 41, pp.458-464.
new method of drone control. By replicating what motors on [4] Nemati, A. and Kumar, M., 2014, June. Modeling and control of a
single axis tilting quadcopter. In American Control Conference
servos do and extrapolating this to entire quadcopters, the (ACC), 2014 (pp. 3077-3082). IEE
control over the platform as a whole is greatly enhanced.
IJERTV5IS100419 www.ijert.org 571
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
