Aerodynamic Model Identification of a Quadrotor Subjected to Rotor Failures in the High-Speed Flight Regime

Abstract

This letter presents a high-fidelity aerodynamic model of a quadrotor in the high-speed flight, with the normal configuration, or subjected to rotor failures. A novel experimental setup, data processing, and model identification procedure are developed. The main idea is that by first establishing the thrust and torque model from static wind tunnel tests as the benchmark of the aerodynamic model, and then identifying the in-plane forces, pitch and roll moments of each rotor from the free flight data obtained in a large-scale open-jet wind tunnel. The validation results show a decent model performance in predicting forces/moments, lateral forces effects, and the quadrotor trimming curve, by comparing with the benchmark model.