The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 18, 2023
Filed:
Aug. 17, 2020
Volocopter Gmbh, Bruchsal, DE;
Burak Yuksel, Heidelberg, DE;
Volocopter GmbH, Bruchsal, DE;
Abstract
A method of operating an under-actuated actuator system including a plurality of actuators (), preferably for operating a multiactuator aerial vehicle (), wherein the actuators () are individual propulsion units of the multiactuator aerial vehicle (), each actuator having a maximum physical capacity u, the method including: controlling the actuators () by with an actual control input u∈computed from an allocation equation u=Du, wherein Dis an inverse allocation matrix and u∈is a pseudo control input defined by a system dynamics equation m(x){umlaut over (x)}+c(x,{dot over (x)})+g(x)+G(x)u=f, wherein x∈n is an n-dimensional configuration vector of the system, m(x)∈is a state dependent generalized moment of inertia, c(x,{dot over (x)})∈are state dependent Coriolis force, g(x)∈are gravitational forces and f∈are external forces and torques, and G(x)∈is a control input matrix which contains the information of under-actuation. The system is under-actuated if Rank (G(x))<n or both under-actuated and overly determined in case of k>m>n and Rank (G(x)D)<n, with k,m,n∈; using state feedback control to recurrently compute a desired pseudo control input ufrom the system dynamics equation. If at least one component of the desired pseudo control input uis greater than a corresponding maximum pseudo control input uthat can be generated based on the actuator maximum physical capacity uand based on positions (or characteristics and configurations) of the actuators within the system, prioritizing at least one of the components of uover the other components of u; and a) by using a prioritizing algorithm, solving the allocation equation for the at least one prioritized component of ubefore solving the allocation equation for the remaining components of u; or b) during state feedback control, adjusting a limiting value of the at least one prioritized component of uby an amount, while keeping respective limiting values of the remaining components of uessentially constant.