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IFAC PapersOnLine 55-37 (2022) 542–547
Prototype
Prototype Development
Development and
and Flight
Flight Controller
Controller
Prototype
ImplementationDevelopment
of the and Flight
Sliding-Arm Controller
Quadcopter
Prototype Development
Implementation of the and FlightQuadcopter
Sliding-Arm Controller
Implementation
Implementation of the Sliding-Arm
of the Sliding-Arm Quadcopter
Quadcopter
Rumit
Rumit Kumar,
Kumar, James
James Z.
Z. Wells,
Wells, Devansh
Devansh Jhawar,
Jhawar, Kunal
Kunal Ranjan,
Ranjan, Manish
Manish Kumar
Kumar
Rumit Kumar, James Z. Wells, Devansh Jhawar, Kunal Ranjan, Manish Kumar
Rumit Kumar, James Z. Wells, Devansh Jhawar, Kunal Ranjan, Manish Kumar
Rumit Kumar, James ∗∗ Z. Wells, Devansh
Cooperative Distributed Jhawar,
Systems Kunal
Lab, Ranjan, Manish Kumar
∗∗ Cooperative
Cooperative Distributed
Distributed Systems
Systems Lab,
Lab,
University
University ∗ of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati,
Cooperative
of Cincinnati,
Distributed
Cincinnati, Ohio Lab,
Systems
Ohio 45221, USA
45221, USA
University
E-mail: ∗∗ of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA
Cooperative
rumitkumar17@gmail.com, Distributed Systems Lab,
wells2jz@mail.uc.edu
University
E-mail:
E-mail: of Cincinnati,
rumitkumar17@gmail.com,
rumitkumar17@gmail.com, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221,
wells2jz@mail.uc.edu
wells2jz@mail.uc.edu USA
University
E-mail: of Cincinnati, Cincinnati,
rumitkumar17@gmail.com, Ohio 45221, USA
wells2jz@mail.uc.edu
E-mail: rumitkumar17@gmail.com, wells2jz@mail.uc.edu
Abstract: In
Abstract: In this
this paper,
paper, the the design,
design, development, and and flight
flight testing of of the technology
technology demonstration
demonstration
Abstract:
prototype In the
for thissliding
paper,arm design, development,
the quadcopter development,
are described. flight testing
andFurthermore, of the
testingdetails theontechnology
the hardware demonstration
component
Abstract:for
prototype
prototype In the
for thissliding
paper,arm the quadcopter
design, development, are
are described. andFurthermore,
flight testingdetails
of theon technology
the hardware demonstration
component
Abstract:
design, machining,
prototype
design, In the
machining,
for thissliding
the paper,
sliding
and
arm
the quadcopter
and integration
arm design,of
integration
quadcopter ofdevelopment,
various
are
various
described.
UAV and
described.
UAV
Furthermore,
flight testing
subsystems
Furthermore,
subsystems are
details
of theon
are discussed.
discussed.
details on
the
Thehardware
technology
the
The sliding
hardware
sliding
component
demonstration
arm UAV is
component
arm UAV is
design,
shape machining, and integration ofthatvarious UAV subsystems are discussed. The slidingthe arm UAV of is
aaprototype
a shape
design,
shape
for the sliding
changing
machining,
changing
changingarms.
aerial
and
aerial
aerial
arm quadcopter
robot
integration
robot
robot
design
design
design of that arehas
various
has described.
additional
UAV Furthermore,
servo motor
subsystems
additional servo motor
are details
inputson
discussed.
inputs forthe
for The hardware
actuating
sliding
actuating component
arm
the length
UAV
length is
of
design,
the
atheshape
the machining,
quadcopter’s
changing
quadcopter’s andThe
aerial
arms. integration
Therobotadditional
design
additional ofthat
that
servo
has
various
servo has
additional
UAV are
motors
additional
motors
servo motor
subsystems
are actively
servo
actively motor
inputs
are discussed.
controlled
inputs
controlled
forThe
using
for
using
actuating
slidingthe
proportional
actuating
proportional arm
the
length
UAV of
derivative
length
derivative is
of
a(PD)
(PD) quadcopter’s
shape changing
control. The arms.
aerial
PD Therobot
based additional
design
control servo
that
is has motors
implemented areusing
additional actively
servo an controlled
motor
onboard inputs using
for
Raspberry proportional
actuating
Pi the
computer derivative
length
which of
the quadcopter’s
(PD) control.
control. Thearms.
The PD
PDand The
based
based additional
control
control isservo
is motors areusing
implemented
implemented activelyan controlledRaspberry
onboard using proportionalPi
Pi computer derivative
which
the
(PD) quadcopter’s
utilizes
utilizes the command
control.
the Thearms.
command PDand The
based additional
feedback
control
feedback data
dataisservo
from motors
the UAV
implemented
from the UAV areusing
actively
autopilot
using
autopilot
an through
onboard
controlled
an through
onboard
Raspberry
the using
ROS/MAVROS
Raspberry
the ROS/MAVROS
computer
proportional
Pi computer
which
derivative
middleware
which
middleware
utilizes
(PD)
interface. the
control. command
This The PD and
methodology basedfeedback
control
showsdata datais from the
implemented
thefrom feasibility UAV autopilot
using
of autopilot an
integrating through
onboard the ROS/MAVROS
Raspberry
and accommodating
accommodating Pi computermiddleware
extra which
the middleware servo
utilizes
interface.
interface. the command
This
This and
methodology
methodology feedback
shows
shows the
thefrom the
feasibility
feasibility UAV of integrating
of autopilot
integrating through
and
and the ROS/MAVROS
accommodating the extra
the middleware
extra servo
servo
utilizes
inputs
interface.
inputs inthethe
in thecommand
This existing and
Pixhawk
methodology
existing Pixhawkfeedback firmware.
shows
firmware. data
the Thethe
feasibility
The UAV
functionality
of integrating
functionality of through
of the
the and the ROS/MAVROS
technology
accommodating
technology demonstration
demonstration the prototype
extra servo
prototype
inputs
interface.
is in the
validated This existing
via Pixhawk
methodology
successful static firmware.
shows benchthe testsThepaired
tests functionality
feasibility of of theand
integrating
with indoor technology
and accommodating
outdoor demonstration
flight prototype
theAdditionally,
tests. extra servo
Additionally,
inputs
is
is in
validated
validated the existing
via
via Pixhawk
successful
successful static
static firmware.
bench
bench The
tests functionality
paired
paired with
with of
indoor
indoor the technology
and
and outdoor
outdoor demonstration
flight
flight tests.
tests. prototype
Additionally,
inputs
is in
thevalidated
UAV has the existing
has been
been Pixhawk
flight tested
tested firmware.
in both both manual The
manual functionality
and semi-autonomous of
semi-autonomous the technology
flight modes demonstration
using an open prototype
open source
the
the
is
UAV
UAVcontrol
validated
ground hasvia been
via
successful
flight
flight The
successful
station.
static
tested
staticin bench
in
flight both
bench
tests paired
manual and
and
tests paired
performance
with indoor and flight
of semi-autonomous
with indoor
various flight and
outdoor
flight
outdoor
parameters
modes
modesflightusing
flight
and
tests.an
using
the anAdditionally,
tests.
new open source
source
Additionally,
servo motor
the
ground
groundUAV has
control
control been flight
station.
station. tested
The
The in
flight
flight both manual
performance
performance andof
of semi-autonomous
various
various flight
flight flight
parameters
parameters modes
and
and using
the
the new
newan open source
servo
servo motor
motor
the UAV
parameters
parameters has been
have
have flight
also
also been tested in
presented. both manual and semi-autonomous flight modes using an open source
ground control
parameters
ground control also been
havestation.
station.beenThepresented.
flight performance of various flight parameters and the new servo motor
Thepresented.
flight performance of various flight parameters and the new servo motor
parameters
Copyright © have also
2022also been
Authors.
Thebeen presented.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
parameters
Keywords: have
Sliding-Arm UAV, presented.
UAV,/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Pixhawk Autopilot, Autopilot, PX4 Firmware,
Firmware, Raspberry-Pi, ROS/MAVROS ROS/MAVROS
(https://creativecommons.org
Keywords:
Keywords: Sliding-Arm UAV, Pixhawk Autopilot, PX4
Sliding-Arm Pixhawk PX4 Firmware, Raspberry-Pi,
Raspberry-Pi, ROS/MAVROS
Keywords: Sliding-Arm UAV, Pixhawk Autopilot, PX4 Firmware, Raspberry-Pi, ROS/MAVROS
Keywords: Sliding-Arm UAV, Pixhawk Autopilot, PX4 Firmware, Raspberry-Pi, ROS/MAVROS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
1. INTRODUCTION
1. INTRODUCTION
InIn the
the last
last decade,
decade, unmannedunmanned aerial aerial vehicles (UAVs) (UAVs) have have be- be-
In
come the last
more decade,
prevalent unmanned
in the aerial vehicles
national vehicles
airspace. (UAVs)
There havebeen
has be-
In
come the last
more decade,
prevalent unmanned
in the aerial
national vehicles
airspace. (UAVs)
There have
has be-
been
acome
aaIn
come the more
more
significant
prevalent
last decade,
significant increase
prevalent
increase
in use
unmanned
in
in
in
the cases
the
use
national
aerial
national
cases and
and
airspace.
vehicles
commercial
airspace.
commercial
There
(UAVs)
There UAV
UAV
has
have
has
been
be-
appli-
been
appli-
significant
come
cations more
as increase by
prevalent
described in
in use
the cases
national
Ferrarese and
et commercial
airspace.
al. (2013) There
and UAV hasappli-
Venkateshbeen
a significant
cations
cations as
as increase by
described
described in
by use cases
Ferrarese
Ferrarese and
et
et al.
al. commercial
(2013)
(2013) and
and UAV appli-
Venkatesh
Venkatesh
aet significant
al.
cations
et al. (2018). increase
as describedAs the by in
number use cases
Ferrareseof and
operating commercial
et al. (2013) vehicles UAV
and within appli-
Venkatesh the
et al. (2018).
cations
national (2018).
asairspace
As
As the
described the number
number
by
increase, Ferrarese
of
of operating
researchoperating
et efforts
al. (2013)
vehicles
vehicles
have and
been
within
within
Venkatesh
focused
the
the
et al.
national
national (2018).
airspace
airspace As the number
increase,
increase, of
research
researchoperating
efforts
efforts vehicles
have
have been
been within
focused
focused the
on et al.
national
on (2018).
applications
airspace
applications Assuch
suchthe number
as
increase,
as Unmanned
Unmanned of
researchoperating
Traffic
efforts
Traffic vehicles
Management
have
Management been within
(UTM)
focused
(UTM) the
on
and applications
national airspace
development suchof as Unmanned
increase,
intelligent research Traffic
measuresefforts toManagement
have been
increase (UTM)
focused
aerial traf-
on applications
and
and development
development suchof
of as Unmanned
intelligent
intelligent Traffic
measures
measures to
toManagement
increase
increase aerial
aerial(UTM)traf-
traf-
ficon
and
fic applications
safety as
development
safety as such
discussed
of
discussed as Unmanned
by
intelligent
by Wells
Wells etTraffic
al.
measures
et al. toManagement
(2021a,b).
increase
(2021a,b). Further,
aerial
Further, (UTM) the
traf-
the
fic
and
increase safety inas
development discussed
flight of
safety by
intelligent
can Wells et al.
measures
also be (2021a,b).
to increase
attributed to Further,
theaerial
onboard the
traf-
fic safety
increase
increase in
inas discussed
flight
flight safety
safety bycan
can Wells
also
also et
be
be al. (2021a,b).
attributed
attributed to
to Further,
the
the onboard
onboard the
fic safety
redundancy
increase
redundancy inas discussed
advancement
flight safety
advancement bycan Wells
in
in the
also
the et
be al.
UAVs
UAVs (2021a,b).
at
attributed
at aa vehicular
to Further,
the
vehicular onboard the
level.
level.
redundancy
increase inmostadvancement
flight safetyoperating
can in also
the within
UAVs at anational vehicular level.
Currently,
redundancy
Currently,
Currently, most
most
UAVs
advancement
UAVs
UAVs in the be
operating
operating UAVs
within
within
attributed
the
at anational
the
the
to the onboard
vehicular
national
airspace
level.
airspace
airspace
areredundancy
based
Currently,
are based on advancement
most
on traditional
UAVs
traditional in
designs
operating
designs the UAVs
such
within
such as
as at
the a
multirotors
multirotors vehicular
national and
and level.
fixed
airspace
fixed
are
wing based
Currently,
aerial on
most traditional
vehicles. UAVs These designs
operating such
within
traditional as multirotors
the national
designs can be and fixed
airspace
improved
are
wing
wing based
aerial
aerial on traditional
vehicles.
vehicles. These
These designs such
traditional
traditional as multirotors
designs
designs can
can be
be and
improved
improvedfixed
are
through based theon traditional
development designs
of such
advanced as multirotors
designs to and
increase fixed
reli- Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Sliding
Sliding ArmArm UAV UAV Prototype,
wing
through
through aerial
wing aerial
the vehicles.
development
the vehicles.
development These
These
of traditional
advanced
oftraditional
advanced designs
designs
designs
designs
can
to be
to increase
can
improved
increase
beAdvanced
improved
reli-
reli- Fig. 1. Sliding
Flight UAV Prototype,
Arm https://youtu.be/OkhffiyfLX0
Videos: Prototype,
ability,
ability,
through flight
flight
the safety
safety
development and
and efficiency
efficiency
of advanced during
during operation.
operation.
designs to Advanced
increase reli- Fig. 1.Flight
Sliding
Flight Videos:
Arm
Videos: https://youtu.be/OkhffiyfLX0
UAV Prototype,
https://youtu.be/OkhffiyfLX0
ability,
through
platforms flight safety
theincrease
development and efficiency
of advanced during operation.
designs Advanced
to increase reli- Fig. 1. Sliding Arm UAV Prototype,
ability, flight
platforms
platforms safetyreliability
increase
increase and efficiency
reliability
reliability
and
and
and
safety
during
safety
safety
through
operation.
through
through
fault
fault
fault
tolerant
Advanced
tolerant
tolerant
Flight Videos:
disturbances
Flight as shown
Videos:
https://youtu.be/OkhffiyfLX0
by Kumar et et al.
https://youtu.be/OkhffiyfLX0 al. (2017). TheseThese improve-
improve-
ability,
control flight
and safetyreliability
enhanced and
flight efficiency
handling during operation.
characteristics. Advanced
There have disturbances
disturbances as shown by
by Kumar
as shownplatform Kumar al. (2017).
platforms
control
control
platforms
and
and increase
enhanced
enhanced
increase
flight
flight
reliability
and safety
handling
handling
and
through
characteristics.
characteristics.
safety through
fault
fault
There
Theretolerant
have
have
tolerant ments
ments of the
of
disturbances the tilt-rotor
tilt-rotor
as shown platform
by Kumar areet
are also
also
et al.
(2017).
shown in
shown
(2017). inThese
the
These
improve-
the TiltDrone.
TiltDrone.
improve-
been
control
been significant
and enhanced
significant effort
effort in
flight
in the
the development
handling
development of
characteristics.
of advanced
advancedThere UAV have ments
UAV of the tilt-rotor
disturbances
The TiltDrone ashas
shown
has each platform
by
of Kumar areetalso
its rotors
rotors shown
al.aa(2017).
on two-axis inThese
the TiltDrone.
gimbalimprove-
which
been
control
designs significant
and enhanced
such:tilt-rotor effort in
flight the development
handling
quadcopters of
characteristics.
by Nemati advanced
et There
al. UAV
have
(2016), The
ments TiltDrone
of the each
tilt-rotor of
platform its are on
also two-axis
shown in gimbal
the which
TiltDrone.
been significant
designs
designs such:tilt-rotor
such:tilt-rotor effort in the development
quadcopters
quadcopters by
by Nemati
Nemati of advancedet
et al.
al. UAV The
(2016),
(2016), ments TiltDrone
provides of the
a hasmaneuverable
each
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more of its rotors
platform are
and on
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two-axis
manipulable gimbal
in the which
TiltDrone.
quadcopter as
been
variable significant
pitch effort in
quadcopters theby development
Cutler of advanced UAV The TiltDrone
provides a more has each of
maneuverable its rotors
and on a two-axis
manipulable gimbal
quadcopter whichas
designs
variable
variable such:tilt-rotor
pitch
pitch quadcopters
quadcopters quadcopters
by
by Cutler
Cutler byand Nemati
and
and
How
How
How et(2015),
(2015),
(2015),
mor-
al. (2016),
mor-
mor-
provides byaa Zheng
The TiltDrone
shown more
Zheng hasmaneuverable
eteach of its rotors
al. (2020).
(2020). and onmanipulable
Another advancedquadcopter
a two-axis gimbal which
tilt-rotor as
de-
designs
phing such:tilt-rotor
aerial quadcopters by Nemati et al. (2016), shown
provides by more et al.
maneuverable Another
and advanced
manipulable tilt-rotor
quadcopter de-
as
variable
phing
phing pitchvehicles
aerial
aerial quadcopters
vehicles
vehicles
by
by
by
Falanga
by Cutler
Falanga
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et
et
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al.
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(2018),
and How fully
(2018),
(2018), (2015),
fully
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mor- shown
actuated
actuated provides
sign bya Zheng
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the et al. (2020).
more maneuverable
over-actuated Another advanced
and manipulable
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octocopter vehicle tilt-rotor
quadcopter
(OTO) by Wangde-
Wang as
variable
systems pitch
by Lee quadcopters
et al. (2021), by Cutler
sliding arm and How
quadcopter (2015), mor-
presented sign
shown
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is(2022).
the over-actuated
Zheng et
over-actuatedal. tilt
(2020).
tilt is Another
octocopter vehicle
advanced
vehicle (OTO)
(OTO) by
tilt-rotor
by Wangde-
phing
systems
systems aerial
by Lee
byetLee vehicles
et al.
et(2020), by
(2021),
al. (2021), Falangasliding
slidinget al.
arm (2018),
quadcopter fully actuated
presented shown
et al. by Zheng
This et al.
platform(2020). Another
over-actuated advanced
and it tilt-rotor
is capable de-
of
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by aerial
Kumar
systems
Kumar byet Lee vehicles
al.
al. et(2020), by etc.
al. (2021), Falanga
etc. The
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The et arm
tilt-rotor
arm
tilt-rotor
quadcopter
al. (2018), quadcopter
quadcopter
quadcopter fullypresented
actuated
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presented
has the et et al.
al.is(2022).
sign (2022). This
This platform
the over-actuated
platform tilt isis over-actuated
octocopter
over-actuated vehicleand it
it is
and(OTO) is capable
by Wang
capable of
of
by Kumar
systems
ability to by etLee
exerciseal.et(2020),
al.
rotor(2021), etc. sliding
thrust The tilt-rotor
vectoring arm quadcopter
quadcopter
through the has the
presented
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of
sign
et al.is(2022).
flying
flying theany
in
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This platform
direction at tilt
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aaa commanded
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attitude.
attitude. by Wang
it is capable of
by
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exerciseal. (2020),
rotor etc.
thrust The tilt-rotor
vectoring throughquadcopter the has
addition the
of flying
et al. in any
(2022). direction
This at
platform commanded
is over-actuated attitude.
and it is capable of
ability
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et al. rotor
(2020), thrust
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The tilt-rotorthroughquadcopter the addition
has of
the flying in any direction at a commanded attitude.
abilitymotors
servo
servo to exercise
motors
motors
mounted
mounted
mounted rotoron on
on
each
thrust
each
eachis
of
of
of
the
vectoring
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the four
four
four
drive
through
drive
drive
motors
the
motors
motors
Kumar
addition
Kumar
Kumar of The The
flyingvariable
variable blade
in any blade pitch
pitch
direction quadcopter
at quadcopter
a commanded is also
is
is also
different from
different
attitude. from aa tra-
tra-
et ability
et al.
servo
al. to exercise
(2017).
motors
(2017). Thrust
mounted
Thrust rotor thrust
vectoring
on
vectoring each vectoring
is achieved
of the
achieved through
four by
by varying
drive
varying the
motors addition
the
the Kumar of The
tilting-
tilting- The
variable
ditional
variable
ditional
blade
quadcopter
blade
quadcopter
pitch
pitch
as it quadcopter
as it actively changes
quadcopter
actively changes
is
also
also
different
the propeller
different
the propeller
from
from
a tra-
blade’s
a tra-
blade’s
et
angle al. (2017).
servo motors
of the Thrust
mainmounted vectoring
propulsionon each isof
achieved
motors theaboutfourby varying
drive
the motors
quadcopterthe Kumar
tilting-
arms ditional
The variable
pitch quadcopter
angle as
blade pitch
during it quadcopter
flight actively
to achievechanges
achieve alsothe
is desired
desired propeller
different fromblade’s
maneuverabilitya tra-
et
angle
angleal. (2017).
of
of the
the main Thrust
main vectoring
propulsion
propulsion is achieved
motors
motors about
about bythevaryingquadcopterthe tilting-
arms pitch
ditional angle during
quadcopter flight
as it to
actively changes the maneuverability
propeller blade’s
et
using al. (2017).
angle
using servo
of the main
servo Thrust
inputs
inputs vectoring
as
propulsion
as demonstratedis achieved
motors
demonstrated by
about
by bythe
Nemati
the
Nemativaryingquadcopter
et
quadcopter
et the(2016).
al.
al.
arms pitch
tilting- ditional
instead
arms instead
(2016).
angle
of
of
duringtheas
quadcopter
varying
varying
flight
angular to achieve
it actively speed of desired
changes the the maneuverability
propeller
motors. blade’s
The variable
variable
using servo inputs as demonstrated by Nemati et al. (2016). pitch angle
instead of duringthe
varying the angular
flight
angular speed
to achieve
speed of
of the
desired
the motors.
motors. The
maneuverability
The variable
angle
This of
allows
usingallows
This the
servo for main
for
inputsan
an propulsion
increase in
as demonstrated motors about
performance by Nematithe
for quadcopter
more aggressive
et al. arms
(2016). pitch pitch
pitch angle during
quadcopter flight
contains to
one achieve
motor desired
driving maneuverability
four split blade
This
using
flight allows for
servotracking
path inputsan increase
increase
as
and
in
in performance
demonstrated
increasedperformance by Nemati
robustness
for more
for towards
more aggressive
aggressive
et al. (2016). pitch
external
insteadquadcopter
propellers
of varying contains
insteadquadcopter
of varying
paired to
the angular
contains
thefour
to angular
four
one
servo
motor
onespeed
motor
speed
motors
driving
of the
of the
as shown
shown
four
motors.
driving four
motors.
The
byThe
split
split blade
variable
blade
variable
Cutler and
This
flight
flight allows
path for
tracking
path tracking an increase
and
and increased in
increasedperformance
robustness
robustness for more
towards aggressive
external propellers
pitch paired
quadcopter contains servo
one motors
motor as
driving by
four Cutler
split and
Cutlerblade
This
flightallows for an increase
path tracking and increased in performance
robustness for towards external propellers
more aggressive
towards pitch quadcopter
external propellers
paired to four servo
contains one motors as shown
motor driving by split
four and
blade
paired to four servo motors as shown by Cutler and
flight path tracking and increased robustness towards external propellers paired to four servo motors as shown by Cutler and
2405-8963 Copyright © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
Peer review under responsibility of International Federation of Automatic Control.
10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.11.239
 Rumit Kumar et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-37 (2022) 542–547
How (2015). Each servo motor is directly connected to one of
the split blades, allowing the pitch of each blade to be adjusted
independently. The benefits of variable pitch quadcopter design
include the ability for inverted flight modes and aggressive
flight maneuvers. Additionally, this quadcopter allows for less
stress on the motors, greater power output, and an extended
flight time as demonstrated by Mckay et al. (2019).
The morphing quadcopter presented by Falanga et al. (2018)
has the ability to modify its structural shape to adapt to the
various obstacles in the surroundings. It is able to morph be-
tween the O, T, H, X vehicle shape configurations vertically,
which leads to the ability to enter more enclosed areas in a
reliable and safe manner. In further research, Fabris et al. (2021)
demonstrates a controller with a compensation schematic to
address the loss of thrust in many morphing UAV platforms,
due to the overlap between the main body and the propellers. A
recent iteration called the cubic quadcopter, by Cuong and Thai
(2022), utilizes horizontal morphing to adapt to the environ-
ment, while being able to fold itself into a compact cube when
it is disabled. On the other hand, the DRAGON UAV can morph
shape in flight through adjusting the thrust commands to rotate
the connected arms around the hinges, as depicted by Zhao et al.
(2018). This design allows for more configurable manipulation
to adapt to various situations rapidly and efficiently without
having to stop moving. However, the DRAGON has very lim-
ited flight time due to the takeoff weight and size constraints.
These advanced UAV deigns share one commonality i.e. the ex-
tra servo actuators for shape manipulation. It is extremely nec-
essary to have an easy methodology for controlling these servo
actuators. The additional servo control approach described in
this paper can easily be extrapolated to other UAV platforms.
This paper is an extension of the earlier simulation based work
described by Kumar et al. (2020). The aim is to develop the
technology demonstration hardware prototype of the sliding
arm quadcopter and showcase flight testing capabilities. The
final hardware prototype of the UAV is shown in Figure 1. The
sliding arm quadcopter has dynamic structural parameters and
it can change shape during flight. The control system for ac-
tive control of these structural parameters, specifically the two
perpendicularly oriented quadcopter arms is described here.
The sliding arms enable to vary the center of gravity location
(CoG) and moment of inertia (MoI) of the quadcopter. This
property can be used to control the roll and pitch attitude of the
vehicle during flight. As the size of multirotor aerial systems
increase it becomes difficult to actively control the propeller an-
gular speeds due to actuator bandwidth constraints and higher
blade moments of inertia. This novel attitude control mech-
anism would prove beneficial for large size multirotors with
larger propellers as the actuation mechanism is linear. The UAV
control architecture described here considers the combination
of the conventional quadcopter controller along with the the
servo control for the sliding motion of the quadcopter arms. It
allows for varying the structural parameters along with the rotor
angular speeds to achieve position and attitude control. In this
setup, the UAV flight controller is interfaced with the sliding
arm servo motors controller using an open source middleware
such as the robot operating system.
The rest of the paper is organized in the following manner.
Section 2 describes the sliding arm UAV hardware design. It
includes the computer aided design details, and information on
different UAV subsystems and hardware components. Section
3 details the information on the UAV hardware software in-
543
tegration, control system architecture, the UAV electrical and
electronics system. Section 4 provides the details on the UAV
flight experimentation. A variety of different indoor and out-
door flight tests were performed, however the results for the
flight in ‘Position-Control’ mode under outdoor GPS conditions
are shown here. Section 5 concludes the paper and discuss
the lessons learned and future work for the sliding-arm UAV.
The details on the funding along with the acknowledgement to
contributors to this research are described in the section 6.
2. SLIDING ARM UAV DESIGN
The sliding-arm quadcopter is essentially an unmanned aerial
system that has two long arms with a single linear degree of
freedom. Each arm can slide linearly through the friction-less
guide bearings. The main motor and propeller combination is
present at both the ends of each arm. These arms are attached
to the central body of the quadcopter to form a plus (+)
configuration. The total length of each arm is constant such
that if one rotor moves towards the quadcopter’s center, the
opposite rotor would be moving away and vice-versa. The
linear displacement of quadcopter arms with respect to the
central body of the quadcopter are actuated using two servo
motors. The system has four motor-propeller pairs and two
additional servo motors for actuating the arms as shown in
Figure 2. The two arms of this quadcopter have a vertical offset
which enables collision-free linear movement of propellers in
different planes during flight operation.
The central body of the sliding arm quadcopter is developed
using three carbon-fiber plates of 3mm thickness stacked on
top of each other using aluminum offset mounts. Further, the
sliding arm guide bearings are positioned in the gap between
the carbon-fiber plates as shown in Figure 2. The quadcopter
arms are made of two long aluminum square tubes with the
main propulsion motors mounted on opposite ends. These tubes
are able to slide through the guide bearings located along the
center line of the quadcopter’s body. A crank mechanism is
used to convert the rotational motion of the servo motor into
the linear motion of the aluminum tubes as shown in Figure
4. The aluminum tube has a perpendicular pin slot such that
crank can be fastened along with the servo motor. The crank
contains a slot in which the pin can slide, thus converting the
rotational motion of the servo motor into linear motion of the
sliding-arm as shown in Figure 4. The cranks are also made
out of 3mm thick carbon-fiber plate. The carbon fiber plate is
machined using an X-Carve CNC machine to get precise cuts
by Inventibles (2022). Different slots are created by machining
on to the carbon fiber plates to mount the servo motors, guide
bearings and other electronics on all three plates. This helps
in reducing the weight and optimize the packing space of the
electronics, while maintaining the structural strength and CoG
balance of the system. The landing gear of the UAV is also
developed out of carbon fiber tubing.
The quadcopter utilizes four PROPDRIVE V2 2836 1000KV
brushless Outrunner DC motors with 10 x 4.7 inch propellers.
Further, it uses two EMAX ES3154 metal gear digital servo
motors to actuate the sliding-arms. The servo motor mounts
are custom designed and carved into the carbon-fiber plates.
The UAV uses a Turnigy 5000mAh 4S 50C Li-Po battery as
the power source. This battery is responsible for powering the
autopilot board, various motors, the onboard computer, and
other electronic components in the UAV. The power distribu-
tion board is mounted at the bottom side of the UAV with
544 Rumit Kumar et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-37 (2022) 542–547

Fig. 2. Sliding-Arm UAV CAD Schematic

slack cables to ensure ample cable length during sliding op-
eration and minimize cable tension. The power distribution
board supplies power to the four propulsion motors. Further,
four electronic speed controllers (ESCs) with 30A rating are Fig. 3. Sliding-Arm UAV Electrical Schematic
used for governing the angular motion of the propulsion mo-
tors by pulse width modulation commands generated by the
Pixhawk autopilot. The electrical schematic of the sliding-arm
UAV is shown in figure 3. The main UAV propulsion motors are
mentioned as M1 , M2 , M3 , M4 and the sliding-arm servo motors
are mentioned as S 1 , S 2 respectively. The autopilot board and
other onboard electronics are powered via step down relays
from the main battery. The UAV utilizes a Pixhawk cube or-
ange autopilot board equipped with an inertial measurement
unit (IMU), pressure sensor, and magnetometer. The UAV also
uses the Here2 GPS module for outdoor position measurement.
These different autonomy sensors provide measurements for
the position, velocity, acceleration, body rates, quaternions, and
attitude angles in three dimensions. The sensor measurements
are passed into a extended Kalman filter to provide accurate
state estimation for the feedback control system of the UAV.
The UAV also uses a 915MHz telemetry radio for development
telemetry communication with a ground control station. The Fig. 4. Sliding-Arm Crank Mechanism
ESCs are connected to the PWM channel ports of the autopilot
version v1.11.3, OS version NuttX, v8.2.0 for generic 10 inch
board. Similarly, the GPS module, telemetry module, alarm and
quad with + geometry. The propeller spin configuration is also
safety switch are attached to the respective ports on the autopi-
set as per the Pixhawk documentation which means that PX4
lot board. The sliding-arm UAV utilizes a Raspberry Pi (RPi)
firmware can function standalone in a conventional manner.
3B+ as the companion computer and it is powered through a
The variation of various flight parameters can be monitored
step down relay from the main battery. Additionally, the servo
over a ground control computer by using applications such as
motors for actuating the sliding arms are powered through the
the QGroundControl QGC (2022).
GPIO Pins on the RPi. The RPi is connected to the Pixhawk
cube board using an FTDI cable thus establishing a serial con- The control of the sliding arm UAV can be achieved by devel-
nection. This serial connection serves as a bridge such that the opment on the existing PX4 framework based on the schematic
MAVROS node in the robot operating system framework can proposed in figures 3. The servo motors of the sliding arm
be executed on the RPi, and the UAV state feedback data can UAV are connected to the GPIO-pins of the Raspberry Pi.
be accessed on the RPi for the control of servo motors for These servo motors share a common 5V power source from the
sliding-arms. The remote piloting operations of the sliding-arm RPi and a common ground. GPIO-pins number 11 and 13 are
quadcopter are executed using the FrSky Taranis Q X7 AC- used in case of the sliding arm UAV for controlling the servo
CESS 2.4GHz radio transmitter. Table 1 provides summarized motors. Here, the Raspberry Pi serves as the external computer.
description of various electronics components of the sliding- Additionally, Robot operating system (ROS) is installed on the
arm quadcopter. Raspberry Pi where different ROS-nodes can be executed. The
position feedback for the UAV is obtained by a global posi-
3. HARDWARE SOFTWARE INTEGRATION tioning system for outdoor flights or through a motion capture
system for indoor flights. There are several ROS-nodes which
In recent years, the open source robotics software development run simultaneously on Raspberry Pi in robot operating system
community have grown significantly large and researchers are (ROS) environment for achieving the control of the sliding-arm
collaborating to develop advanced flight controllers for drones. UAV. The MAVROS node serves as bridge for communicating
The existing open source firmware can be modified or addi- with the Pixhawk autopilot over the Mavlink protocol. The RPi
tional functionalities can be incorporated based on the appli- is connected to the Pixhawk cube board using an FTDI cable
cations. The PX4 firmware with Pixhawk autopilot board is via a serial connection. The position, attitude feedback, and set
a popular open source flight software for drones PX4 (2022). point commands for the UAV can be accessed using MAVROS
The sliding-arm UAV presented here use the PX4 software on the RPi. Further, a custom ROS-node is developed using the
 Rumit Kumar et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-37 (2022) 542–547
Table 1. Sliding-Arm UAV Components
Component Type
Companion Computer
Electronic Speed Controllers (4x)
GPS
Motors (4x) PROPDRIVE V2 2836 1000KV brushless Outrunner DC Motor
Propellers (4x)
Autopilot
Power Source
Radio Telemetry
RC Controller Receiver
Servo Motors (2x)
Step Down Converter
Fig. 5. Servo Control using Attitude Feedback
Python programming language for controlling the additional
servo motors in the sliding arm UAV. The RPi.GPIO Python
library is used in the ROS framework for controlling the servo
motors. First the feedback of various UAV states and set point
commands are obtained. It includes the position and velocity
feedback, attitude quaternion feedback, body rate feedback, and
commands such as roll angle set point, pitch angle set point, and
yaw rate set point. It should be noted that the set point command
can be a manual or autonomously generated command based on
the current flight mode of the UAV. If the UAV is flying in man-
ual flight mode then set point commands are directly mapped to
the pilot stick commands. However, for semi-autonomous and
fully-autonomous modes, the set point commands are generated
by the autopilot as per the flight control law. These set point
commands are directly accessed on the RPi for controlling the
additional servo motors in the sliding arm UAV. The attitude
quaternion is converted to Euler angles for attitude controller
implementation. Further, a PD-based attitude controller is im-
plemented for controlling the servo motors by utilizing the error
information in desired UAV attitude with respect to the current
attitude of the UAV and body rate information in respective axis
as shown in figure 5.
The servo motors are initialized at the center position at the
beginning of the flight and the servo motor controller generates
the change in duty cycle commands for servo motors in order
to minimize any attitude and body rate errors in the UAV.
The change in duty cycle commands are passed through the
control allocation matrix derived based on the propeller spin
configuration of the UAV for the servo controllers. The control
signals are sent to the servo motors via GPIO pins on the RPi.
If there is a roll or pitch attitude error, the servo motors change
their angular position and once the error is minimized to near
545
Component Name
Raspberry Pi 3B+
30A SBEC Speed Controller
HEX Here 2 Precision
10 x 4.7 inch propellers
Pixhawk Cube Orange, PX4
Turnigy 5000mAh 4S 50C Li-Po battery
3DR Radio Telemetry Kit
FrSky Receiver X8R Receiver
EMAX ES3154 Metal Gear Digital Servo Motor
DC-DC buck step down converter
zero value, the servo motors return to the mean position. The
servo motors are rated and controlled at 50 Hz frequency. The
proposed servo control mechanism is also equipped with a fail-
safe option such that if there is a link loss or GPS failure
during flight, the servo-motors are commanded to go back to
mean positions. The overall control system architecture for the
sliding-arm UAV is shown in Figure 6. It should be noted
that the pixhawk autopilot and the RPi for additional servo
control work in parallel for achieving the complete control of
the sliding-arm UAV.
4. FLIGHT TESTING
The sliding-arm UAV was flight tested in manual flight mode in
the indoor lab environment and several successful flights were
achieved. Further, successful semi-autonomous flight tests were
achieved in altitude hold mode and position hold mode. The
UAV performed several successful flights during experimenta-
tion. However, in this section the results for the position hold
semi-autonomous flight mission are described.
The sliding-arm UAV was initialized at the takeoff location and
the ROS node for controlling the sliding-arm servo motors was
activated via the RPi. The pilot armed the UAV in the position
mode during take off phase. Once a safe altitude was achieved,
the pilot exercised attitude stick commands for navigating the
UAV in the position flight mode. Figure 7 shows the 3D flight
trajectory of the sliding arm UAV during flight and it can be
seen that the UAV is flying at an altitude of 6.2m above ground
level. Figure 8 shows the variation of servo motor duty cycle
(DC) responsible for sliding motion of the left-right quadcopter
arm. It is visible that the sliding motion of the quadcopter
arm is assisting in roll attitude angle control of the UAV. It
is visible from Figure 8, when pilot exercises roll commands
the duty cycle (DC) values of the servo motors responsible for
roll control vary in a synchronous manner as per the PD-based
control law executed over the RPi. Similarly, figures 9 and 10
shows the variation of roll attitude angle and roll body rate.
The UAV is able to track the pilot commanded roll successfully.
Figure 11 shows the variation of servo motor duty cycle (DC)
responsible for sliding motion of the front-back quadcopter
arm. It is visible that the sliding motion of the quadcopter arm is
assisting in pitch attitude angle control of the UAV. It is visible
from Figure 11, when pilot has exercised a pitch doublet at
around t = 35s, the duty cycle (DC) values of the servo motors
responsible for pitch control vary simultaneously as per the
servo PD-controller executed over the RPi. Similarly, figures
12 and 13 shows the variation of pitch attitude angle and pitch
body rate. The UAV is able to track the pilot commanded pitch
successfully. The yaw body rate observed during the position
546 Rumit Kumar et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-37 (2022) 542–547

Fig. 6. Control System Architecture

X: -20.86
Y: 21.74
7 Z: 6.273

4
Z-Pos (m)

0
Take-Off Land Fig. 9. Variation of Roll Angle during Flight
-1
22
20
Y-Pos (m)
18
-20.5 -20 -19.5
-22 -21.5 -21
16 -23 -22.5
-23.5
X-Pos (m)

Fig. 7. Variation of 3D-position during Flight

8.8 25
DC
Roll 20
8.6
15
8.4
10
Roll Angle (deg)

8.2

Fig. 10. Variation of Roll Rate during Flight

5
Duty Cycle

8 0

-5
7.8
-10
7.6
-15 7.8 15
DC
7.4
-20 Pitch
7.6
7.2 -25 10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
7.4
Time(s)
Pitch Angle (deg)

5
Duty Cycle

7.2

Fig. 8. Variation of Left-Right Rotor Sliding DC during Flight 7

0

6.8

mode flight is shown in Figure 14. The flight parameters show 6.6
-5

a stable flight of the sliding-arm quadcopter. 6.4

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
-10

Time (s)

5. CONCLUSION Fig. 11. Variation of Front-Back Rotor Sliding DC during Flight

This paper presented the technology demonstration of the shape controller was implemented on a companion Raspberry Pi com-
changing sliding-arm UAV. The details on the UAV structural puter using middleware. The outdoor flight testing results were
design and electronic subsystems were presented. The active presented and the UAV achieved a stable flight. This control
control of sliding-arms along linear degree of freedom was methodology for this novel design would prove useful in the
achieved via the crank mechanism actuated by rotational servo control of large size multirotors and can easily be scaled for
motors. The details on hardware-software integration and im- different applications and other robot platforms. However, the
plementation of the PD-based servo controller in parallel to the present design of the sliding arm UAV has been found me-
primary UAV autopilot were discussed. The PD-based servo chanically complex and it can be improved significantly using
 Rumit Kumar et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-37 (2022) 542–547
Fig. 12. Variation of Pitch Angle during Flight
Fig. 13. Variation of Pitch Rate during Flight
Fig. 14. Variation of Yaw Rate during Flight
independent linear actuators instead of servo motors as part of
the future work.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the research fellowship
provided by the Graduate Student and Governance Associa-
tion (GSGA) at the University of Cincinnati in realization of
this research project. The authors are also thankful to the the
Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Team of 2021 (Lexi
Wasan, Kevin Daniel-Hamberg, Hunter McKinley, Debarun
Bhattacharjee, VS Ritwik), and UAV MASTERS LAB at the
University of Cincinnati for the structural design, machining
and integration of the sliding-arm quadcopter.
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