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Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR

Autonomous outdoor operations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), such as quadrotors, expose the aircraft to wind gusts causing a significant reduction in their position-holding performance. This vulnerability becomes more critical during the automated docking of these vehicles to outdoor charging s...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mendez, Arthur P., Whidborne, James F., Chen, Lejun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10098597/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37050770
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23073711
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author Mendez, Arthur P.
Whidborne, James F.
Chen, Lejun
author_facet Mendez, Arthur P.
Whidborne, James F.
Chen, Lejun
author_sort Mendez, Arthur P.
collection PubMed
description Autonomous outdoor operations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), such as quadrotors, expose the aircraft to wind gusts causing a significant reduction in their position-holding performance. This vulnerability becomes more critical during the automated docking of these vehicles to outdoor charging stations. Utilising real-time wind preview information for the gust rejection control of UAVs has become more feasible due to the advancement of remote wind sensing technology such as LiDAR. This work proposes the use of a wind-preview-based Model Predictive Controller (MPC) to utilise remote wind measurements from a LiDAR for disturbance rejection. Here a ground-based LiDAR unit is used to predict the incoming wind disturbance at the takeoff and landing site of an autonomous quadrotor UAV. This preview information is then utilised by an MPC to provide the optimal compensation over the defined horizon. Simulations were conducted with LiDAR data gathered from field tests to verify the efficacy of the proposed system and to test the robustness of the wind-preview-based control. The results show a favourable improvement in the aircraft response to wind gusts with the addition of wind preview to the MPC; An 80% improvement in its position-holding performance combined with reduced rotational rates and peak rotational angles signifying a less aggressive approach to increased performance when compared with only feedback based MPC disturbance rejection. System robustness tests demonstrated a [Formula: see text] s or 120% margin in the gust preview’s timing or strength respectively before adverse performance impact. The addition of wind-preview to an MPC has been shown to increase the gust rejection of UAVs over standard feedback-based MPC thus enabling their precision landing onto docking stations in the presence of wind gusts.
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spelling pubmed-100985972023-04-14 Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR Mendez, Arthur P. Whidborne, James F. Chen, Lejun Sensors (Basel) Article Autonomous outdoor operations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), such as quadrotors, expose the aircraft to wind gusts causing a significant reduction in their position-holding performance. This vulnerability becomes more critical during the automated docking of these vehicles to outdoor charging stations. Utilising real-time wind preview information for the gust rejection control of UAVs has become more feasible due to the advancement of remote wind sensing technology such as LiDAR. This work proposes the use of a wind-preview-based Model Predictive Controller (MPC) to utilise remote wind measurements from a LiDAR for disturbance rejection. Here a ground-based LiDAR unit is used to predict the incoming wind disturbance at the takeoff and landing site of an autonomous quadrotor UAV. This preview information is then utilised by an MPC to provide the optimal compensation over the defined horizon. Simulations were conducted with LiDAR data gathered from field tests to verify the efficacy of the proposed system and to test the robustness of the wind-preview-based control. The results show a favourable improvement in the aircraft response to wind gusts with the addition of wind preview to the MPC; An 80% improvement in its position-holding performance combined with reduced rotational rates and peak rotational angles signifying a less aggressive approach to increased performance when compared with only feedback based MPC disturbance rejection. System robustness tests demonstrated a [Formula: see text] s or 120% margin in the gust preview’s timing or strength respectively before adverse performance impact. The addition of wind-preview to an MPC has been shown to increase the gust rejection of UAVs over standard feedback-based MPC thus enabling their precision landing onto docking stations in the presence of wind gusts. MDPI 2023-04-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10098597/ /pubmed/37050770 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23073711 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Mendez, Arthur P.
Whidborne, James F.
Chen, Lejun
Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR
title Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR
title_full Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR
title_fullStr Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR
title_full_unstemmed Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR
title_short Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR
title_sort wind preview-based model predictive control of multi-rotor uavs using lidar
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10098597/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37050770
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23073711
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