Aerobatic Maneuver Planning for Tilt-rotor UAVs Based on Multi-Modal Consistent Dynamic Model

Abstract

The unique tilt-servo mechanism of the tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) facilitates seamless transitions between multi-rotor and fixed-wing modes, enhancing both flexibility and maneuverability. However, traditional modeling methods, which treat each flight mode independently, fail to provide a unified dynamic representation, limiting the accurate description of aerobatic maneuvers during mode transitions. This paper introduces a novel modeling approach based on transient Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to capture the aerodynamics of the transition mode, resulting in a multimodal, consistent dynamics model. This model simplifies the mathematical representation for specific tilt angles, ensuring compatibility with both multi-rotor and fixed-wing dynamics, and accurately describes aerobatic maneuvers. An autonomous feedback motion planning method, utilizing third-order Bézier curves for angular velocity planning, is applied, along with a modal switching strategy to address the limitations of traditional fixed-wing UAVs. The feasibility of this method was validated through numerical simulations, hardware-in-the-loop simulations, and outdoor flight experiments of a tilt-rotor UAV performing the Cobra maneuver in transition mode.