Dynamical Model and Tracking Controller for a Novel Flapping Wing Drone Platform

This work focuses on the design and control of a novel type of Flapping-Wing Micro Aerial Vehicle (FWMAV). The drone, known as the X-Fly, is a new under-actuated robotic platform that also has an inner control loop to stabilize its roll angle thanks to an onboard IMU. Such assistance makes the X-Fly easier to pilot. The under-actuation and the flapping oscillations make the modelling and the control of the X-Fly a challenging task. A dynamical model is introduced that is able to take advantage of the stabilized roll dynamics to separate the platform into two almost independent sub-systems, one for the altitude and another for the position on the x-y plane. A trajectory tracking controller for the altitude and a circular trajectory are then proposed and tested in order to corroborate the validity of the presented model.