Magnus-Effect Winged Hybrid UAV System: Improved Energy Efficient and Autonomy Through Control Allocation Strategy

Abstract

While multirotor autonomous aerial vehicles have excellent maneuverability, they lack the ability to perform long-endurance flights. Many design-based approaches to addressing this drawback exist. To overcome this challenge, this article proposes the Magnus-effect winged quadcopter system design. We use the rotational speed of the Magnus-effect-based wings in this system as a control variable to maximize the contribution from these wings, thus minimizing the necessary and required thrust from the quadcopter and, therefore, the system's energy consumption. To this end, we developed an airspeed-dependent nonlinear optimization control allocation scheme to operate the system at a wide range of airspeeds. Realistic simulations and outdoor experiments validate the approach, demonstrating the superior energy efficiency of the Magnus-based quadcopter system compared to traditional quadcopter and emphasizing its potential for achieving extended endurance.