16.

485: VNAV - Visual Navigation for

Autonomous Vehicles
Luca Carlone
Lecture 6

based on slides by Markus Ryll

Agile Navigation with Aerial Vehicles

Vijay Kumar et al.

@Penn, 2012

Raffaello D’Andrea et al.

@ETH, 2015
Agile Navigation with Aerial Vehicles

Skydio (>~ 2015)

Agile Navigation with Aerial Vehicles

Lockheed Martin AlphaPilot AI Drone Innovation Challenge (2019)

Design Concepts
• Single rotor • Tandem rotor

✓ Good Controllability and ✓ Good Controllability and

maneuverability maneuverability
- Complex mechanics - Complex mechanics
- Large rotor - Large size

• Coaxial rotor • Quadrotor

✓ Compactness ✓ Good maneuverability

✓ Simple mechanics ✓ Simple mechanics
- Complex aerodynamics ✓ Big payload
- High energy consumption
4
Design Concepts
Vertical acceleration (thrust)

Propeller 4
velocity

Forces 1
Design Concepts

Hovering condition

Propeller 4
velocity

Forces 1
Design Concepts

Roll/Pitch

Propeller 4
velocity

Forces 1
Design Concepts

Yaw

Drag 4

Forces 1
Notation
Design Concepts
Vertical acceleration (thrust)

Propeller 4
velocity

Forces 1
 System view

Source: http://ardupilot.org/copter/_images/
Pixhawk-Inforgraphic2.jpg