Design and Experimental Study of a Novel Semi-physical Simulation Platform for Visual Navigation of Quadrotor UAVs

doi:10.12382/bgxb.2022.0760

Abstract

Abstract:

Visual navigation simulation tests are able to verify the robustness and accuracy of navigation algorithms for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and expediting the iterative optimization of the algorithms. Traditional computer model-based hardware-in-the-loop simulations fall short in realizing real visual navigation flight tests, so it is necessary to design a high-precision semi-physical simulation platform for UAV visual navigation tests. According to the characteristics of the UAV and the simulation model, a new six-degree-of-freedom mechanical structure composed of a three-axis turntable and a three-axis truss is proposed. This mechanical structure can simulate the flight attitude of a quadrotor UAV within a three-dimensional space of 4.0m×2.0m×1.4m. According to the designed mechanical structure and its dynamic characteristics, the control system based on EtherCAT communication is developed. The system can realize real-time flight attitude simulation in the real physical environment and synchronous flight attitude simulation in the virtual animation space. The actual measurement results show that the repeated positioning accuracy of the three-axis turntable can reach 0.006°, the repeated positioning accuracy of the three-axis truss can reach 0.033mm, and the dynamic error accuracy can reach 0.04° and 0.4mm. The effectiveness of the simulation platform is also verified by indoor and outdoor comparison tests. The results show that the simulation platform can meet the needs of high-precision UAV visual navigation simulation.

Key words: quadrotor UAV, visual navigation, six degrees of freedom mechanical structure, semi-physical simulation platform

CLC Number:

V217.39

HUANG Feng, WANG Weixiong, LIN Zhonglin, WU Xianyu, ZHUANG Jiaquan. Design and Experimental Study of a Novel Semi-physical Simulation Platform for Visual Navigation of Quadrotor UAVs[J]. Acta Armamentarii, 2023, 44(9): 2836-2848.

Figures/Tables 21

Fig.1 Mechanical analysis of a quadrotor UAV

Fig.2 Mechanical structure

Fig.3 Turntable mechanical structure

Fig.4 Analysis of mechanical properties of the yaw shaft frame

Fig.5 Structure of the three-axis flight turntable

Fig.6 Coordinate transformation of the three-axis rotary table

Table 1 Approximate of the oment of inertia of the three axes relative to each axis of rotation

转台坐标轴	转动惯量J/(kg·mm²)
转台坐标轴	X轴	Y轴	Z轴
r轴	0.6512	0.6495	0.6295
i轴	0.1657	0.1635	0.3191
o轴			0.7198

Fig.7 Decoupling control schemes

Fig.8 Overall architecture of the control system

Fig.9 Schematic diagram of electrical connections

Table 2 Main parameters of the three-axis truss

设计参数	X轴	Y轴	Z轴
最大速度/(mm·s^-1)	1000	1000	1000
最大加速度/(mm·s^-2)	1000	1000	1000
线性负载/N	1643.5	775.1	2918.7

Table 3 Main parameters of the three-axis rotary table

设计参数	o轴	r轴	i轴
最大速度/((°)·s^-1)	20	20	20
最大加速度/((°)·s^-2)	20	20	20
线性负载/(kg·mm²)	1.04	0.66	0.81

Fig.10 Physical diagram of the system

Fig.11 Software architecture

Fig.12 Real-time animation simulation

Fig.13 Software flowchart

Fig.14 Accuracy of three-axis truss repeat positioning

Fig.15 Accuracy of three-axis truss repeat positioning

Fig.16 Dynamic trajectory diagram of a three-axis truss

Fig.17 Dynamic angle diagram of the three-axis rotary table

Fig.18 Comparison of simulation effects

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