Autonomous Flight Test of a Novel Nonconventional Biplane Micro Air Vehicle

Jana, S and Shivkumar, S and Shewale, M and Kandath, H and Ramesh, M and Balasubramaniam, S and Khanapuri, E and Bhat, MS (2022) Autonomous Flight Test of a Novel Nonconventional Biplane Micro Air Vehicle. In: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 35 (5).

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Abstract

This paper presents detailed mathematical modeling, controller design, and flight test results for the autonomous mission of a nonconventional fixed-wing biplane micro air vehicle (MAV) called Skylark having span and chord length within 150 mm. Although numerous fixed-wing MAV designs are reported in the open literature, an MAV's reliable autonomous flight is still a challenge. The primary difficulties in performing the autonomous mission of fixed-wing MAV are system integration within the weight and power budget, center of gravity (CG) management, and flight controller design for fast dynamics. In this paper, the key challenges are addressed by using the higher payload capacity of Skylark, suitable selection and design of avionics components, and design of controller after detailed development of the mathematical model, including the additional effect of propeller wash and motor countertorque. An autonomous flight test is successfully demonstrated after the validation of algorithms and software architecture through nonlinear six-degrees-of-freedom simulation. The detailed design and development approach will increase the MAV's performance and reliability in civil and military applications. © 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Publisher:	American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Keywords:	Budget control; Controllers; Degrees of freedom (mechanics); Flight simulators; Micro air vehicle (MAV); Military applications; Software testing, Autonomous flight; Chord lengths; Controller designs; Design tests; Flight test; Micro air-vehicles; Micro-air vehicle design; Power budgets; Span length; System integration, Fixed wings
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Aerospace Engineering(Formerly Aeronautical Engineering)
Date Deposited:	15 Jun 2022 09:52
Last Modified:	15 Jun 2022 09:52
URI:	https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/73573

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