Currently analyzing the complex turbulent wake created by quadcopters in close proximity (i.e. a drone swarm.) Experiments are presently being designed and constructed to record base data of the wake created by one, two, three, and four quadcopters in the Indoor Flow Lab at Skytop Turbulence Laboratories. Following this, a fifth quadcopter will be flown through this turbulent environment to test its stability and response while simultaneously examining how the flow field is affected. This fifth quadcopter will be tested both with a standard linear control algorithm as well as a non-linear control algorithm.
The upstream turbulent velocity field of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and its rotor performance are investigated in experiments conducted in an outdoor wind tunnel. This research targets details on the dynamic interaction between upstream turbulent flow and UAV’s attitude control performance to support the development of more robust quadrotor controllers when exposed to turbulent and gusty environments. The quadrotor is exposed to a primary stream of free-shear flow with different turbulence intensities along with varying length and time scales in order to gain interaction information. Characterization of the upstream flow field is empirically calculated based on previous research. The UAV’s translational degreeof-freedom (DOF) is fixed downstream of the turbulent flow to test its rotational DOF (the attitude) controller performance within a turbulent environment. The Euler angles and their inside the UAV flight controller.