A Flight Physics Model and Controller Architecture for a Synchropter Drone

Design and controller development of unmanned aerial vehicles require suitable calculation models. This work shows the aspects of model building, simulation and validation, up to flight test of a control system. An aeromechanics code is developed for an autonomous synchropter rotorcraft. The modular software simulates rotor dynamics and aerodynamics for interacting rotors as well as the fuselage drag and atmosphere. A validated model of the system is built to develop a flight controller based on incremental non-linear dynamic inversion and pseudo-control hedging. Open and closed loop measurements of the system show the applicability of the simulation model and control architecture in flight test.