Development of a meso-scale cycloidal-rotor aircraft for micro air vehicle application

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Abstract

This paper describes the design, controls system development, and hover testing of a 60 -g meso-scale cycloidal-rotor based (cyclocopter) micro air vehicle. The cycloidal rotor (cyclorotor) is a revolutionary vertical take-off and landing concept with a horizontal axis of rotation. The twin-cyclocopter utilizes two optimized cyclorotors and a horizontal tail rotor used to counteract the pitching moment generated by the cyclorotors. An innovative light-weight and high strength-to-weight ratio blade design significantly reduced cyclorotor weight and improved aerodynamic efficiency. In addition, increasing the virtual camber and incidence (by increasing chord-to-radius ratio) and using a symmetric pitching schedule with a maximum ± 45° pitching amplitude also improved rotor efficiency. Due to gyroscopic coupling and inherent instability of the cyclocopter, a closed-loop feedback control system was implemented using a custom autopilot weighing 1.5 g. The 60-g meso-scale twin-cyclocopter successfully demonstrated stable, sustained hover.

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APA

Shrestha, E., Yeo, D., Benedict, M., & Chopra, I. (2017). Development of a meso-scale cycloidal-rotor aircraft for micro air vehicle application. International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, 9(3), 218–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756829317702048

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