The Core of Aerial Robotic Workers : Generalized Modeling, Estimation, and Control

Sammanfattning: In this thesis we are going to explore what the operational core, both mathematically and algorithmically, of an Aerial Robotic Worker consists of, in order to estimate its egomotion and parameters, and adaptively control the aerial vehicle. Moreover, the aim of this thesis is to be a condensed reference for the corresponding areas of aerial robotics, in order to provide a stable and complete foundation on which one can continue research on. The areas that are covered in this Thesis are: 1) the fundamental modeling of the generalized aerial vehicle, where the kinematics, sensors and motor/thrust models will be presented together with simplified models for the motor characteristics, which will form the basis for all the future derivations, 2) how to model, calibrate and compensate for the errors existing in, and induced into, cheap accelerometers and gyroscopes, as these sensors constitute the aerial platform's core sensor suite as the inertial sensor. Successful methodologies and results are presented and evaluated to show that the cost of calibration can be dramatically reduced without loss of accuracy nor mechanical complexity. 3) How to perform inertial sensor driven egomotion and parameter estimation to lay the foundation for adaptive control strategies, where specific weight will be put on the successful development of a new profound sensory system which has the possibility to replace GPS in robotics applications, while also being able to perform indoors and in GPS denied environments, and which was the core of the localization module done in the AEROWORKS project, enabling the full, high accuracy localization around tall, GPS interfering infrastructure. And finally 4) how to utilize the estimation in low and high-level adaptive controllers, where specific results on how to successfully compensate for the movement of the center of gravity, together with the reduction of thrust over time due to declining battery voltage. Moreover we will explore the use case of Aerial Robotic Workers in real life applications and we will identify and comment on potential future directions of these aerial robotic systems and the impact theses can have in both research and society.