Modeling and experimental parameter identification of a multicopter via a compound pendulum test rig

In this paper, a method to identify parameters of a multicopter is proposed via a compound pendulum test rig and data from an optical position tracking system. Moments of inertia and thrust parameters of a hexacopter are evaluated. In addition, a specific method is introduced to identify the torque by a propeller using a floating test bed. Then, nonlinear dynamic model is derived based on the obtained parameters. To verify the identification method, simulation results using the nonlinear model are compared with experimental results from flight tests.