In-flight launch of unmanned aerial vehicles

Niels Nauwynck, Haris Balta, Geert De Cubber, Hichem Sahli

Abstract

This paper considers the development of a system to enable the in-flight-launch of one aerial system by another. The paper will discuss how an optimal release mechanism was developed, taking into account the aerodynamics of one specific mother and child UAV. Furthermore, it will discuss the PID-based control concept that was introduced in order to autonomously stabilize the child UAV after being released from the mothership UAV. Finally, the paper will show how the concept of a mothership UAV + child UAV combination could be usefully taken into advantage in the context of a search and rescue operation.

Keywords

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Control, Autonomous stabilization, Search and Rescue drones, Heterogeneous systems

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IMEKO-TC17-2018-018.pdf

DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC17 - Measurement in Robotics

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