Dynamic assessment and control of an insect-inspired, perching MAV
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
van Brügge, Lina
Armanini, Sophie Franziska
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
In this work, we present an approach for modeling medium size flapping-wing micro aerial vehicles (FWMAVs) carrying heavy payloads, using a co-simulation of ADAMS© and
MATLAB/Simulink® which we validated using flight test data. The drone used for our investigations is the Nimble+ produced by Flapper Drones. It carries a gripper, which can be used for perching in order to save battery consumption during longer missions, or to carry objects. The additional component increases the overall weight by approximately 50 % and leads to instability in the control. To examine how the gripper influences the system dynamics, the system is simulated in its clean, gripper-less configuration as well as with gripper attached, and the system dynamics are extracted using linear least-squares fitting. These results are then used to tune an existing baseline PID-controller and to develop a Modified Linear Extended State Observer (MLESO) as a new model-based control approach.
MATLAB/Simulink® which we validated using flight test data. The drone used for our investigations is the Nimble+ produced by Flapper Drones. It carries a gripper, which can be used for perching in order to save battery consumption during longer missions, or to carry objects. The additional component increases the overall weight by approximately 50 % and leads to instability in the control. To examine how the gripper influences the system dynamics, the system is simulated in its clean, gripper-less configuration as well as with gripper attached, and the system dynamics are extracted using linear least-squares fitting. These results are then used to tune an existing baseline PID-controller and to develop a Modified Linear Extended State Observer (MLESO) as a new model-based control approach.
Date Acceptance
2026-06-06
Citation
Journal of Aircraft
ISSN
0021-8669
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Aircraft
Copyright Statement
Subject to copyright. This paper is embargoed until publication. Once published the author’s accepted manuscript will be made available under a CC-BY License in accordance with Imperial’s Research Publications Open Access policy (www.imperial.ac.uk/oa-policy).
License URL
Publication Status
Accepted