Effects of Shape Changing of Morphing Rotary Wing Aircraft on Longitudinal and Lateral Flight

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles are aerial robots controlled by commands sent from the ground control station. While fixed-wing aircraft have the advantages of long range and high altitude, they need a runway to create sufficient lift on the wings. The advantage of Rotary Wing Aircraft is that it does not need a runway, it can perform vertical take-off and landing. It can hover. Thanks to these features, it is used in tasks such as surveillance, search and rescue, and reconnaissance. In areas with chemical wastes or in closed environments without risking the human element; Desired tasks can be performed in places such as sewers, caves, and collapsed houses. For this, there is a flight control computer and software on the aircraft. Rotary-wing aircraft are more unstable than fixed-wing aircraft. Thanks to the flight controller, its stability and controllability are increased. In this study, a quadcopter, multicopter aircraft structure is used. The variation of the angle between the arms of a quadcopter aircraft and its effects on forward and sideways flight are examined. It is required that the aircraft be symmetrical in the longitudinal and lateral axis in order to cope with the disturbances to which it is exposed in external environments . In closed environments, atmospheric events are replaced by obstacles. One of the desirable features of the aircraft is that it can pass through narrow places. For this, the aircraft must perform a shape change. The change in structure will cause it to change in the dynamics equations, causing the rotors to react differently during linear and rotational movements of the aircraft. This study focuses on the system design and control of the aircraft. The geometric features obtained from the aircraft designed in the CATIA program were used in the creation of the mathematical model. The obtained values were created using the MATLAB Simulink program to create a digital twin of the aircraft. When the intersection angle between the arms is 90 degrees, the settling time of the 2-degree pitch angle is 7.48 seconds, and when it is 45 degrees, it is 10.3 seconds.