Linear control design, allocation, and implementation for the Omnicopter MAV

Traditional vertical take-off and landing micro aerial vehicles (VTOL MAVs) are generally underactuated, i.e., equipped with fewer actuators than degrees-of-freedom (DOF). As a consequence, they possess a limited mobility because of the inherent underactuation (e.g., they can neither translate laterally with a zero attitude nor hover at a spot with a nonzero attitude). In this paper, we present the design of a novel MAV, the Omnicopter, with two central counter-rotating coaxial propellers for thrust and yaw control and three perimeter-mounted variable angle ducted fans to control roll and pitch and provide lateral forces. It can work under two configurations, a fixed 90° ducted fan angle configuration and a variable angle ducted fan configuration. The variable angle configuration provides full actuation to the Omnicopter position/attitude. After a brief introduction of the Omnicopter platform, we discuss the control design, allocation and implementation for the two configurations separately. Simulations and experimental results verify the performance of the Omnicopter.