Title :
Experimental study on the influence of controller firmware on multirotor actuator dynamics
Author :
Magnussen, Oyvind ; Hovland, Geir ; Ottestad, Morten ; Kirby, Simon
Author_Institution :
Fac. of Eng. & Sci., Univ. of Agder, Grimstad, Norway
Abstract :
In this paper the dynamic response of a propeller actuator commonly used in hobby unmanned aerial vehicles is studied experimentally. It is shown that the choice of electronic speed controller firmware has a significant effect on the overall actuator dynamics. Six different scenarios are tested: 1+2) Rising/falling step response with the standard firmware of the Hobbyking F30a, 3+4) Rising/falling step response with firmware from Simon Kirby/GitHub and 5+6) Rising/falling step response with firmware from Simon Kirby/GitHub including complementary Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) switching. Experimental results show a significant difference in actuator dynamics depending on the chosen firmware. By using firmware with complementary PWM switching, the rising and falling step responses are very similar. Such model symmetry is an advantage for control systems development, both in terms of robustness and performance.
Keywords :
actuators; autonomous aerial vehicles; dynamic response; firmware; helicopters; mobile robots; propellers; pulse width modulation; step response; telerobotics; Hobbyking F30a; PWM switching; Simon Kirby/GitHub; UAV; control systems development; dynamic response; electronic speed controller firmware; falling step response; multirotor actuator dynamics; propeller actuator; pulse-width-modulation; rising step response; unmanned aerial vehicles; Actuators; Angular velocity; Brushless motors; DC motors; Mathematical model; Propellers; Transfer functions;
Conference_Titel :
Robotic and Sensors Environments (ROSE), 2014 IEEE International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Timisoara
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-4927-4
DOI :
10.1109/ROSE.2014.6952992
