Most existing works on cable-suspended payload manipulation entail the use of multirotor UAVs as flying carriers, exploiting their hovering capabilities and maneuverability. Besides these benefits, multirotor suffer from limited endurance, which restricts long-distance transport.
Convertible and fixed-wing UAVs are characterized by longer endurance thanks to their aerodynamic efficiency; however, they must maintain a non-zero forward speed for efficient flight, which introduces challenges in the accurate pose control of a cable-suspended load.
Recent work has proposed a paradigm shift in aerial robotic cooperative manipulation by studying the use of efficient non-stopping aerial robots for the control of a cable-suspended object [1, 2, 3]
This thesis, carried out at the University of Twente in collaboration with ENAC (Toulouse, France), answers the research question
How much energy is spared when using convertible UAVs to manipulate a cable-suspended load instead of using multirotor UAVs?
The thesis follows these steps:
- The candidate uses the simulator developed at ENAC to simulate a cooperative load transport task using convertible UAVs (case1).
- The candidate substitutes the available convertible UAV model with a multirotor UAV of realistic and mission-appropriate size and payload, and simulates the same task (case2).
- The candidate compared the energy used in the two cases. Other relevant metrics, such as average and maximum position and attitude errors of the manipulated object, are compared, too.
- (optional) The candidate simulates disturbances such as sensor noise, wind, etc., and assesses the robustness of the load pose control in the two cases above.