Path Planning of UAV’s for open-cast Minefields

Abstract

In this work, we have firstly carried out the path- planning of a quadcopter using mathematical modelling. The quadcopter flight dynamics are described according to “Newton-Euler” equations and “Euler-Lagrange” equations. The simulations were carried out on Matlab- Simulink software. As a quadcopter is an under – actuated vehicle with four inputs (thrust and moment about the three axis) and six outputs (position and orientation about the three axis), therefore its analysis becomes difficult but we tried to develop a model as close to being realistic as possible. This model is used for designing a stable as well as an accurate controller so that our drone can traverse on a predefined path without much fuss and instability. Data Driven modelling is also carried out for the dynamics identification of our quadcopter assuming it to be a blackbox model because of its complex structure. Various types of model structures have been discussed in this thesis (both linear and non - linear) and their implementation on our quadcopter to know its dynamics. We finally saw that the DDM optimizes the results obtained from analytical methods and follows the given path even more accurately on applying the DDM. This thesis thus uses closed- loop data to estimate black-box models that describe the dynamics of the quadcopter system for attitude control and the path planning. A quadcopter is a naturally unreliable multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system, making it a useful testing ground for system identification theories as well as control theory.