UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE WITH COLLISION TOLERANT PROPULSION AND CONTROLLER

摘要

Vertical take off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (1) comprising a multi-propeller propulsion system (2), an outer protective cage (4) surrounding the multi-propeller propulsion system (2), an autonomous power source (7), a sensing system (6), and a control system (5) connected to the sensing system (6) to receive measurement signals from the sensing system. The control system is electrically connected to the multi-propeller propulsion system (2) to control motors (10) of the propulsion system. The sensing system comprises at least an orientation sensor and a displacement sensor configured to measure the orientation and displacement of the multi-propeller propulsion system. The multi-propeller propulsion system comprises at least two propellers (8) arranged spaced apart in a non-coaxial manner, each propeller comprising a motor (10) having a stator and a rotor coupled to propeller blades (9). The control system (5) comprises at least one microprocessor (15) and at least one nonvolatile memory (16) in which at least one control program (17) is executable by the microprocessor (15) to control the multi-propeller propulsion system for flight or hovering of the VTOL UAV. The control system comprises a program for stabilizing orientation (18) configured to reverse thrust on at least one propeller (8") distal from a point of contact (P) with an obstacle (26) while controlling a motor (10) of a proximal propeller from the contact point (P) to generate lift, the thrust of the distal and proximal propellers being controlled to exert lift on the UAV to counteract gravitational force (G) thereon and apply a moment of rotation (M) about said point of contact (P) to stabilize the position of the UAV or to counteract torque resulting from inertia.