Co-Design Optimization of Morphing Topology and Control of Winged Drones

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 May 2024 13:33:59 +0000

Co-Design Optimization of Morphing Topology and Control of Winged Drones

Abstract

The design and control of winged aircraft and drones is an iterative process aimed at identifying a compromise of mission-specific costs and constraints. When agility is required, shape-shifting (morphing) drones represent an efficient solution. However, morphing drones require the addition of actuated joints that increase the topology and control coupling, making the design process more complex. We propose a co-design optimization method that assists the engineers by proposing a morphing drone’s conceptual design that includes topology, actuation, morphing strategy, and controller parameters. The method consists of applying multi-objective constraint-based optimization to a multi-body winged drone with trajectory optimization to solve the motion intelligence problem under diverse flight mission requirements, such as energy consumption and mission completion time. We show that co-designed morphing drones outperform fixed-winged drones in terms of energy efficiency and mission time, suggesting that the proposed co-design method could be a useful addition to the aircraft engineering toolbox.

𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑢'𝑠 𝐵𝑙𝑜𝑔 feed:2024:05:27

Co-Design Optimization of Morphing Topology and Control of Winged Drones

Co-Design Optimization of Morphing Topology and Control of Winged Drones