Scaling laws and similarity models for the preliminary design of multirotor drones

Abstract Multirotor drones modelling and parameter estimation have gained great interest because of their vast application for civil, industrial, military and agricultural purposes. At the preliminary design level the challenge is to develop lightweight models which remain representative of the physical laws and the system interdependencies. Based on the dimensional analysis, this paper presents a variety of modelling approaches for the estimation of the functional parameters and characteristics of the key components of the system. Through this work a solid framework is presented for helping bridge the gaps between optimizing idealized models and selecting existing components from a database. Special interest is given to the models in terms of reliability and error. The results are compared for various existing drone platforms with different requirements and their differences discussed.

[1]  Marc Budinger,et al.  Dimensional analysis and surrogate models for the thermal modeling of Multiphysics systems , 2017 .

[2]  Guowei Cai,et al.  A Survey of Small-Scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Recent Advances and Future Development Trends , 2014 .

[3]  J Jaap Molenaar,et al.  Continuum modeling in the physical sciences , 2007, Mathematical modeling and computation.

[4]  Jun-Hyuk Choi,et al.  Temperature Estimation of Stator Winding in Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors Using d-Axis Current Injection , 2018 .

[5]  Quan Quan,et al.  A Practical Performance Evaluation Method for Electric Multicopters , 2017, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[6]  Chas.P. Steinmetz,et al.  On the law of hysteresis , 1984, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[7]  Wayne Johnson,et al.  VTOL Urban Air Mobility Concept Vehicles for Technology Development , 2018, 2018 Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference.

[8]  Allan Miller,et al.  Electric Vehicles in New Zealand: Technologically challenged , 2013 .

[9]  Michael Ol,et al.  Small UAV Research and Evolution in Long Endurance Electric Powered Vehicles , 2007 .

[10]  Mark H. Holmes,et al.  Introduction to the Foundations of Applied Mathematics , 2009, Texts in Applied Mathematics.

[11]  Marc Budinger,et al.  Efficient sizing and optimization of multirotor drones based on scaling laws and similarity models , 2020 .

[12]  Section De Microtechnique,et al.  design and control of quadrotors with application to autonomous flying , 2007 .

[13]  Evangelos Papadopoulos,et al.  Parametric design and optimization of multi-rotor aerial vehicles , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

[14]  Ohad Gur,et al.  Optimizing Electric Propulsion Systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles , 2009 .

[15]  Xavier Roboam,et al.  Optimal design of the Integrated Modular Power Electronics Cabinet , 2016 .

[16]  M Budinger,et al.  Estimation models for the preliminary design of electromechanical actuators , 2012 .

[17]  Jean-Charles Maré,et al.  Computer-aided definition of sizing procedures and optimization problems of mechatronic systems , 2015, Concurr. Eng. Res. Appl..

[18]  Marc Budinger,et al.  Modelling and design approaches for the preliminary design of power electronic converters , 2017 .

[19]  Michael C. Nechyba,et al.  Embedded Low Cost Inertial Navigation System 1 , 2003 .

[20]  Clint Steele,et al.  The use of dimensional analysis to augment design of experiments for optimization and robustification , 2006 .

[21]  Eric N. Johnson,et al.  Electric Multirotor UAV Propulsion System Sizing for Performance Prediction and Design Optimization , 2016 .

[22]  Tuan Le Dinh,et al.  Electric propulsion system sizing methodology for an agriculture multicopter , 2019 .

[23]  Pan Wei,et al.  The Design of Quadcopter Frame Based On Finite Element Analysis , 2015, ICM 2015.

[24]  Tong Heng Lee,et al.  Systematic Design and Implementation of a Micro Unmanned Quadrotor System , 2014 .