Dynamics and control of adaptive airbags for UAV impact protection

摘要

Small drones with total mass of a few kilograms are becoming more and more popular in many applications increasing the probability of occurrence of emergency situations caused by an equipment failure or a human error. In case of a fall from a high altitude very often it is possible to use parachute rescue systems, which however require relatively long time for deployment and development of braking forces. The touchdown velocity may be large enough to exceed limit accelerations for UAV equipment. The paper presents the concept of deployable airbag systems, in particular with adaptive flow control, which provides a possible solution to the above-mentioned problems. The paper discusses the overall control and adaptation strategy. Simplified methods for mathematical modeling are proposed and formulated for an example on a cylindrical airbag. The conceptual part is concluded with the presentation of the methodology of experimental verification and results of initial tests of the integrated airbag system.