A Novel Robust Hexarotor Capable of Static Hovering in Presence of Propeller Failure

Abstract

This paper presents a novel open source design of the Y-shaped hexarotor Unammend Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and proves both in theory and real experiments its robustness to the failure of any of its propellers. An intuitive geometrical interpretation of UAV static hovering ability is presented, through which the robustness of different coplanar/collinear hexarotor designs is analyzed. Following the presented geometrical interpretation, we also show the conditions that allow the Star-shaped hexarotor to be robust to the failure of some of its propellers, while showing its incapability to static hover in the case of the failure of any of its propellers. Finally, the efficiency of the Y-shaped and Star-shaped hexarotors are tested experimentally, and conclusions on the advantages and disadvantages of the two designs are drawn.

Static Hovering Realization for Multirotor Aerial Vehicles with Tiltable Propellers

“…The conditions ( 12), ( 13) are equivalent to the condition below [22]: Property 1. A platform is capable of static hovering if and only if 0 0 0 ∈ int(M )…”

A Versatile Aerial Manipulator Design and Realization of UAV Take-Off from a Rocking Unstable Surface

“…Its propulsion system provides the hexarotor with increased robustness over the quadrotor, allowing it to improve its actuator fault detection and isolation capabilities [27]. When a malfunction is detected immediately, the control law can be adjusted to meet the closed-loop criteria or to statically hover [28] or safely return the aerial vehicle to the ground if continued flight is no longer possible [29].…”

Modeling and Switched Control of Modular Reconfigurable Flight Array for Faulty Redundancy

“…In addressing the fault-tolerant control challenges of rotorcraft, comprehensive and systematic research has been conducted by scholars [11,12]. In [11], an adaptive control strategy is proposed to estimate the fault parameter of the actuator, with which the stabilization problem of the quadrotor with actuator fault can be effectively solved.…”

“…In [11], an adaptive control strategy is proposed to estimate the fault parameter of the actuator, with which the stabilization problem of the quadrotor with actuator fault can be effectively solved. Reference [12] compares the static hover of two different configurations of hexacopters (coaxial Y-shaped and regular hexagonal) when one actuator fails. Following the geometric interpretation, it demonstrates that the hexacopter with a hexagonal configuration is unable to maintain static hover when one of its propellers fails, whereas the Y-shaped hexacopter can maintain static hover even when any one propeller fails.…”