Modeling and position control of tethered octocopters

Abstract

This work presents the modeling and control of a multirotor aerial vehicle with tethered configuration. It is considered an octocopter with a saturated proportional-plus-derivative position control. A viscoelastic model is considered for the tether, which has a tension control. Numerical simulations are carried out to compare the performance of the tethred configuration with the vehicle in free flight.