Trajectory Tracking Control of a Drone-Guided Hose System for Fluid Delivery
Carlos A. Estrada, Liang Quan Sun · AIAA Scitech 2021 Forum · 2021
View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-1003.vid In this paper, we present a nonlinear trajectory-tracking controller for a multicopter to deliver a pressurized fluid through an attached hose system. The three-dimensional (3D) dynamic model of the entire system is derived that incorporates multicopter dynamics, the reaction force from the release of the fluid, and the force applied by the weight of the hose. The magnitude of the fuid-release reaction force is calculated using Newton's second law. The force applied by the hose weight onto the mutlicopter dynamics is determined using a catenary approach for a low- tension cable. The nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) technique was applied to develop the controller that is able to drive the multicopter to track two predefined 3D trajectories while taking the operational constraints of the multicopter into account. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the MPC controller.