Modeling of an unmanned hybrid aerial vehicle

In this paper, the mathematical modeling of a hybrid aerial vehicle is presented. This vehicle is a combination of a fixed-wing aircraft and a multirotor helicopter. This vehicle is thus capable of vertical take off and landing (VTOL) and of cruising forward flight. The thrust is generated by 4 propellers which can pivot and thus the direction of thrust is controllable. This paper details the nonlinear dynamics of the aircraft, including major aerodynamics effects and thrust-tilting effects, resulting in a realistic simulator for control design and validation.