The Dysc is a new MAV with counter-rotating rotors that uses gyroscopic moments for attitude control. The two rotors are fixed pitch, eliminating the need for complex mechanisms like the swashplate, leading to lower cost and easier maintenance when compared to traditional helicopter configurations. In addition, the Dysc has the potential for higher agility than quadrotors.

Design

The Dysc is a rotorcraft with two counter-rotating coaxial rotors. Unlike those in conventional coaxial rotorcraft, the Dysc’s rotors are coincident at their centers, and are gimbaled to the main body. The vehicle is composed of five rigid bodies: the airframe, interior gimbal, interior rotor, exterior gimbal, and exterior rotor.

As with typical rotorcraft, the Dysc’s rotors generate not only the thrust necessary to hover, but also the attitude control moments. Unlike typical rotorcraft, however, the Dysc generates attitude moments without using aerodynamic forces. The rotors act as Variable-Speed Control Moment Gyroscopes (VCMGs), enabling the vehicle to generate pitch and roll moments through the proper control of the rotor speeds and gimbal joint velocities.

Publications:

• C. Thorne and M. Yim, “Design and analysis of a gyroscopically controlled micro air vehicle,” Journal of intelligent & robotic systems, vol. 65, pp. 417-435, 2012.
  [Bibtex]

  @article{CT:MY:12,
  year={2012},
  issn={0921-0296},
  journal={Journal of Intelligent \& Robotic Systems},
  volume={65},
  issue={1-4},
  doi={10.1007/s10846-011-9644-7},
  title={Design and Analysis of a Gyroscopically Controlled Micro Air Vehicle},
  publisher={Springer Netherlands},
  keywords={Micro air vehicle; Gyroscopic control; Vertical take-off and landing; Control moment gyroscope},
  author={Thorne, ChrisE. and Yim, Mark},
  pages={417-435},
  language={English}
  }

• C. E. Thorne and M. Yim, “Towards the development of gyroscopically controlled micro air vehicles,” in Robotics and automation (icra), 2011 ieee international conference on, 2011, pp. 26-31.
  [Bibtex]

  @INPROCEEDINGS{CT:MY:11,
  author={Thorne, C.E. and Yim, M.},
  booktitle={Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on},
  title={Towards the development of gyroscopically controlled micro air vehicles},
  year={2011},
  month={may},
  volume={},
  number={},
  pages={26 -31},
  keywords={aerodynamic control surface;angular momentum;attitude control;diverse robotic;flying machine;gyroscopically controlled microair vehicle;linear controller stabilization;rotary wing microair vehicle;system level perspective;teleoperated application;aerodynamics;aerospace components;aircraft control;angular momentum;attitude control;gyroscopes;microrobots;stability;telerobotics;},
  doi={10.1109/ICRA.2011.5980439},
  ISSN={1050-4729},
  }

 

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