Cet ouvrage présente les étapes suivies pour la conception de régulateurs en orientation et en position pour un mini véhicule aérien à ailes fixes effectuant des vols stationnaires en milieu restreint. Un banc d'essai permettant de tester les algorithmes de commande sur un avion a été construit. Les mesures d'orientation sont obtenues à l'aide d'un capteur inertiel embarqué sur l'avion. Les modèles permettant la conception des différents régulateurs furent identifiés à partir de données expérimentales obtenues à l'aide d'un pilote expérimenté et de régulateurs préliminaires. La sélection de la structure du modèle est basée sur la linéarisation d'un modèle physique à six degrés de liberté. La conception des régulateurs est basée sur une méthode du domaine fréquentiel impliquant le diagramme de Nichols. Des simulations ainsi que des tests en vol sont présentés pour montrer les performances obtenues.

<p>The use of drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), is increasing every day. These aircraft are piloted either remotely by a human pilot or completely autonomously by an on-board computer. UAVs are typically equipped with a video camera providing a live video feed to the operator. While they were originally developed mainly for military purposes, many civil applications start to emerge as they become more affordable.<p><p><p>Micro air vehicles are a subgroup of UAVs with a size and weight limitation; many are designed also for indoor use. Designs with rotary wings are generally preferred over fixed wings as they can take off vertically and operate at low speeds or even hover. At small scales, designs with flapping wings are being explored to try to mimic the exceptional flight capabilities of birds and insects. <p><p><p>The objective of this thesis is to develop a control mechanism for a robotic hummingbird, a bio-inspired tail-less hovering flapping wing MAV. The mechanism should generate moments necessary for flight stabilization and steering by an independent control of flapping motion of each wing.<p><p><p>The theoretical part of this work uses a quasi-steady modelling approach to approximate the flapping wing aerodynamics. The model is linearised and further reduced to study the flight stability near hovering, identify the wing motion parameters suitable for control and finally design a flight controller. Validity of this approach is demonstrated by simulations with the original, non-linear mathematical model.<p><p><p>A robotic hummingbird prototype is developed in the second, practical part. Details are given on the flapping linkage mechanism and wing design, together with tests performed on a custom built force balance and with a high speed camera. Finally, two possible control mechanisms are proposed: the first one is based on wing twist modulation via wing root bars flexing; the second modulates the flapping amplitude and offset via flapping mechanism joint displacements. The performance of the control mechanism prototypes is demonstrated experimentally. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished