Institute of Control Systems

Menu

Quadrocopters

 

Brief Description: Quadrocopters are rotorcrafts with four separately driven rotors, which provide a free and agile omnidirectional movement and make these devices a suitable testbed for formation control problems.

The quadrocopters (short for quad-rotor helicopters) used in this institute are small, light and agile unmanned rotorcrafts of the type Hummingbird by Ascending Technologies, which are equipped with a programmable onboard computation hardware, wireless communication devices (XBee) and sensors such as an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a GPS module for position measurement. This equipment permits the quadrocopters to fly autonomously.

In cooperation with the Institute for Reliability Engineering, a group of four such quadrocopters is available for experimental research. A combination of ground station software and programming interface based on Matlab/Simulink simplifies the implementation of advanced control schemes and hardware-in-the-loop tests. With its computation and communication capabilities, the fleet of quadrocopters can be used to test and evaluate different schemes and approaches to formation flight control. A recent test was the implementation and demonstration of an information flow filter for consensus-based decentralized formation control. Further information about this platform can be obtained here.

 

For indoor formation flight experiments an additional test platform is currently being established, which consists of a group of 15 small-scale quadrocopters and a camera-based localization system. This platform will allow combined experiments of real flying hardware and emulated implementations of distributed formation control schemes including advanced models of inter-agent communication. The quadrocopters used are Cheerson CX-10 nanoquadrotors.

A list of ongoing student projects can be found here. 

A list of open topics can be found here. 

 

Related Student Projects:

  • Berghoff, Sebastian (2016): "Adaptation and Test of a Camera-Based Localization System for Positioning of Miniature Quad-Rotor Helicopters. Bachelor Thesis". Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Werner, Herbert.

  • Kunkel, Florian (2016): "System Identification and Position Control of a Quadrocopter by Means of Camera-Based Position Tracking". Master's Thesis. Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Weltin, Uwe, Werner, Herbert.

  • Laß, Moritz Boy (2016): "Extension of the position measurement setup for position control of a quad-rotor helicopter by integration of an optical flow sensor". Project Work. Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Werner, Herbert.

  • Singh, Sukhwinder (2016): "System Identification of Miniature Quad-Rotor Helicopters using a Camera-Based Positioning System". Project Work. Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Werner, Herbert.

  • Bussa, Ashish (2015): "Design and Implementation of a Position Controller for Formation Control of a Swarm of Quad-Rotor Helicopters using Robust Control Techniques". Project Work. Supervised by Werner, Herbert, Bartels, Marcus.

  • Elsner, André (2015): "Position Control of a Quad-Rotor Helicopter Using a Camera-Based Positioning System". Project Work. Supervised by Werner, Herbert, Bartels, Marcus.

  • Kahlefendt, Chris (2015): "Implementierung und Untersuchung von Verfahren zur Erhöhung der Genauigkeit der GPS-basierten Positionsbestimmung eines Quadrokopters". Bachelor Thesis. Supervised by Werner, Herbert, Bartels, Marcus.

  • Priegnitz, Torben (2015): "Untersuchung und Modellierung der fehlerbehafteten GPS-Positionsmessung eines Quadrokopters". Bachelor Thesis. Supervised by Werner, Herbert, Bartels, Marcus.

  • Schradick, Dennis (2015): "Entwurf eines mit GPS- und Inertialmessdaten gestützten Schätzfilters zur Positionsbestimmung eines Quadrokopters". Bachelor Thesis. Supervised by Werner, Herbert, Bartels, Marcus.

  • Steinmetz, Fabian (2015): Extension of a camera-based indoor positioning system for positioning of flying objects in 3D space". Bachelor Thesis. Supervised by Werner, Herbert, Bartels, Marcus.

  • Toshkov, Yavor (2015): "Model Identification of a Quadrocopter and Model-Based Design of an Attitude Controller Using Linear System Identification and Controller Synthesis Techniques". Master's Thesis. Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Ali, Qasim, Werner, Herbert, Montenegro, Sergio.

  • Benthack, Jan-Steffen (2014): "Konzeption und Umsetzung einer Vorrichtung zur Positionsbestimmung eines Quadrokopters mittels RTK-GPS". Bachelor Thesis. Supervised by Werner, Herbert, Bartels, Marcus.

  • Bilgin, Alp (2014): "Implementation and Comparison of Formation Control Schemes for a Swarm of Quad-Rotor Helicopters using Robust Control Techniques". Master's Thesis. Supervised by Werner, Herbert, Bartels, Marcus.

  • Scheibner, Wiebke (2014): "Systemidentifikation und Modellierung eines Quadrokopters". Bachelor Thesis. Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Werner, Herbert.

  • Gonzalez Cisneros, Pablo Sebastian (2014): "Implementation of an Information Flow Filter on a Swarm of Quad-Rotor Helicopters Using Robust Control Techniques". Project Work. Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Werner, Herbert.

  • Schalk, Lukas (2013): "Untersuchungen zu Qualität und Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten der GPS-basierten Positionsbestimmung eines Quadrokopters". Bachelor Thesis. Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Werner, Herbert.

  • Shahzad, Muhammad Saqib (2013): "Implementation of a Formation Control Scheme on a Quadrocopter Swarm Using Robust Control Techniques". Master’s Thesis. Supervised by Bartels, Marcus, Werner, Herbert.

Before the purchase of the currently used generation of quadrocopters in December 2012, already extensive research was carried out using a previous generation. Further information can be found here.