A Novel Motor Synchronization Method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Distributed Electric Propulsion System

Ruiheng Zhang, Tianying Yu, Haoyu Wang, Xiaopeng Wang, Yuhua Du, Yigeng Huangfu, Aili Fan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel motor synchronization method for unmanned aerial vehicles with distributed electric propulsion system (DEP-UAV). Compared with conventional aircraft with a single motor, propeller management in DEP-UAV is more delicate and represents unique challenges. Specifically, motors with asynchronous rotating speed would generate asymmetric thrusts along the DEP-UAV, which could result in undesired moment imbalance on the aircraft. A model-based distributed control algorithm is developed, which synchronizes the rotating speed of multiple motors to the desired value. The proposed method runs on a sparse communication network, which avoids the system's single-point-of-failure; additionally, the control gains are customized regarding each motor's mechanical characteristics, which ensures the system's dynamic performance without introducing excessive computational cost. The convergence of the proposed method has been analytically proved and its dynamic performance has been validated using a Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (C-HIL) testbed for DEP-UAV application.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIECON 2023 - 49th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
ISBN (Electronic)9798350331820
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Externally publishedYes
Event49th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IECON 2023 - Singapore, Singapore
Duration: 16 Oct 202319 Oct 2023

Publication series

NameIECON Proceedings (Industrial Electronics Conference)
ISSN (Print)2162-4704
ISSN (Electronic)2577-1647

Conference

Conference49th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IECON 2023
Country/TerritorySingapore
CitySingapore
Period16/10/2319/10/23

Keywords

  • distributed control
  • Distributed electric propulsion
  • model-based control
  • motor synchronization
  • unmanned aerial vehicle

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