Flight performance of a swashplateless micro air vehicle

Abstract

We present the control design, system integration, and free flight evaluation of a novel 227 g swashplateless coaxial helicopter. This micro aerial vehicle (MAV) achieves authority over roll, pitch, and yaw orientation as well as maneuvering thrust using only two propellers directly affixed to two motors. No additional aerodynamic control surfaces or actuators are introduced. Instead, cyclic control is obtained through the underactuated dynamic response of the main rotor itself to a modulated drive torque. Comparisons are drawn to conventional four-motor quadrotors and four-actuator fixed pitch coaxial helicopters in terms of mechanical complexity and actuator mass fraction. Trim power consumption in hover is reported across a range of symmetric and asymmetric loading states. Closed loop trajectory tracking maneuvers are demonstrated in a motion capture environment.