Interactions between upstream turbulent flow and quadrotor thruster controller performance*

Ningshan Wang, Jacob Connors, John-Michael Velarde, Mark Glauser—The upstream velocity field of a quadrotor UAV and its thruster controller performance are investigated in experiments at Syracuse University. These experiments are conducted in SU’s sub-sonic wind tunnel and Indoor Flow Lab. This research targets providing more details on the dynamics of this interaction in order to support the development of more robust quadrotor controllers when exposed to turbulent environments. The quadrotor UAV is exposed to turbulent flows, with different intensities, length and time scales, to gain the interaction information under a variety of conditions. Characterization of the upstream flow field is by hot wire and PIV. A 6-DOF balance is utilized to capture simultaneously, along with the flow measurements, the forces and moments experienced by the quadrotor UAV. The interactions of these forces and moments with the input turbulent characteristics are analyzed using frequency domain approaches.