Sensitivity-Based Tube NMPC for Cooperative Aerial Structures Under Parametric Uncertainty

This paper presents a sensitivity-based tube Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) framework for cooperative aerial chains under bounded parametric uncertainty. We consider a planar two-vehicle chain connected by rigid links, modeled with input-rate actuation to enforce slew-rate and magnitude limits on thrust and torque. Robustness to uncertainty in link mass, length, and inertia is achieved by propagating first-order parametric state sensitivities along the horizon and using them to compute online constraint-tightening margins. We robustify an inter-link separation constraint, implemented via a smooth cosine embedding, and thrust-magnitude bounds. The method is implemented in MATLAB and evaluated with boundary-hugging maneuvers and Monte-Carlo uncertainty sampling. Results show improved constraint margins under uncertainty with tracking performance comparable to nominal NMPC.

Modelling, Analysis and Control of OmniMorph:an Omnidirectional Morphing Multi-rotor UAV

We present the design, modelling, and control of a novel morphing multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that we call the OmniMorph. The morphing ability allows the platform to switch between different configurations to achieve the required task. The uni-directional thrust (UDT) configuration can be used for energy-efficient navigation, while fully-actuated (FA) and omnidirectional (OD) configurations can be used for full pose tracking and make the platform assume any orientation while compensating the gravity. The platform is equipped with eight bi-directional propellers that are actively tilted in a synchronized fashion using only one additional degree of actuation.