Improved Quadcopter Disturbance Rejection Using Added Angular Momentum

This paper presents a novel quadcopter design with an added momentum wheel for enhanced stability. The novel vehicle has improved torque disturbance rejection capabilities compared to a standard quadcopter. An analysis of the vehicle dynamics shows that the effect of torque disturbances decreases monotonically with increasing angular momentum of the momentum wheel. A framework for choosing the mass moment of inertia and speed of the momentum wheel is given based on an upper bound on the allowable energy stored in the wheel. Theoretical results are experimentally validated by comparing responses to torque impulses applied to the vehicle with and without the momentum wheel spinning.