Theses and Dissertations
Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Department
Mechanical Engineering
Committee Chair
Carlos Montalvo, Ph.D
Advisor(s)
Joe Richardson, Ph.D., Sean Walker, Ph.D.
Abstract
With tethered rotor drones being more popular for aerial surveillance, moving platforms for tethered drones are being researched. However, these systems require constant power to the rotor drones for stabilization. With this difficulty in power consumption, a hybrid drone solution is presented. The hybrid drone is similar to an airplane, with quadcopter motors attached for stabilization and thrust when not moving.
The controller for the hybrid drone was tested and verified in simulation. The simulation of the system was built in Fortran and consists of a driver, a tether, and a hybrid drone. The driver was modeled after a generic pick-up truck that moves in a straight line, and the tether is a viscoelastic tether made from a bead model. The controller for the hybrid drone was then created using three separate controllers. These controllers consisted of a quadcopter controller, a plane controller, and a blend controller. Testing and verifying of the hybrid controller were done using different test cases, such as not moving, moving forward, braking, varied speed, bumpy roads, and winds. The controller and simulation were found to be stable in most cases, allowing the hybrid drone solution to be possible in all but the winds model.
Recommended Citation
Miller, Zachary M., "Autonomous Control of a Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Towed System on a Moving Platform" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 213.
https://jagworks.southalabama.edu/theses_diss/213
Included in
Applied Mechanics Commons, Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons, Navigation, Guidance, Control and Dynamics Commons, Other Mechanical Engineering Commons