Title
Position controller for a flapping-wing drone using ultra wide band
Author
Gonzalez Archundia, Guillermo (TU Delft Aerospace Engineering)
Contributor
de Croon, G.C.H.E. (mentor) 
Degree granting institution
Delft University of Technology
Programme
Aerospace Engineering
Date
2021-08-25
Abstract
The continuous improvement and miniaturisation of elements in drones have been essential for making flapping-wing drones a reality. This thesis presents an integral approach for accurate indoor position control and estimation on flapping-wing drones. The approach considers three main aspects to enhance transient response of the drone. The first one is an experimental velocity/attitude flapping-wing model for drag compensation, obtained through system identification techniques. The second one is a voltage-dependent variable thrust model for enhancing height control. Thirdly, a characterisation of ground effects to determine the height for stable hovering. For the state estimation, an extended Kalman filter fuses UWB position measurements with IMU data. Due to the well-known multi-path effects of UWB, the Kalman filter includes an adaptive noise parameter based on height. The novel control strategy was validated with real flight tests, where position control improved by a factor of 1.5, reaching a mean absolute error of 10cm in positions in x and y, and 4.9cm for position in z.
Subject
Mavlab
UWB
drag compensation
FWMAV
position control
thrust control
ground effect
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b18cead1-951b-4a21-a4bb-0ba36f1768ee
Embargo date
2026-08-25
Coordinates
51.990061383065424, 4.375257133543355
Part of collection
Student theses
Document type
master thesis
Rights
© 2021 Guillermo Gonzalez Archundia