Design, Modeling and Control of a Novel Jet Vectoring Backpack
Kunpeng Bai, Wei Dong, Yiqun Lv, Lei Chen, Yutian Chi, Yongzhuo Gao, Hui Dong
Abstract
This paper presents the design and development of a jet vectoring backpack (JVP) - a single-person vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft specifically designed for emergency and disaster relief. Unlike existing electrically powered personal flying devices, the JVP employs turbojet engines as primary propulsion units and integrates a one-dimensional thrust vectoring mechanism to enhance control torque response. This design achieves a compact configuration with high payload capacity and superior maneuverability, suitable for complex terrain deployment. A dynamic model of the JVP is established, and the nonlinear control problem is decoupled into a cascaded Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control structure combined with a control allocation module. Considering actuator dynamics, a real-time control allocation strategy prioritizing attitude stabilization (roll, pitch, and yaw) and altitude control is implemented on a microcontroller platform. To address the slow and inconsistent dynamic response of turbojet engines, a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) control architecture is adopted, with inner-loop PID gains tuned via <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$H_\infty$</tex-math></inline-formula> optimization and a lead compensator in the outer loop to improve dynamic response. Experimental validations using a custom-built prototype demonstrate stable and precise control performance under complex conditions, highlighting the JVP's practical application potential.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{ral2025_designmodelingan,
title = {Design, Modeling and Control of a Novel Jet Vectoring Backpack},
author = {Kunpeng Bai and Wei Dong and Yiqun Lv and Lei Chen and Yutian Chi and Yongzhuo Gao and Hui Dong},
booktitle = {RA-L 2025},
year = {2025}
}