Connecting multiple aerial vehicles to a rigid central platform through passive spherical joints holds the potential to construct a fully-actuated aerial platform. The integration of multiple vehicles enhances efficiency in tasks like mapping and object reconnaissance. This paper proposes a control and state estimation framework for the Integrated Aerial Platform (IAP), enabling it to perform versatile tasks like object reconnaissance and physical interactive tasks with only onboard sensors. In the framework, the 6D motion control serves as the low-level controller, while the high-level controller comprises a 6D admittance filter and a perception-aware attitude correction module. The 6D admittance filter, serving as the interaction controller, is adaptable for aerial interaction tasks. The perception-aware attitude correction algorithm is carefully designed by adopting a geometric Model Predictive Controller (MPC). This algorithm, incorporating both offline and online calculations, proves to be well-suited for the intricate dynamics of an IAP. A 6D direct wrench controller is also developed for the IAP. Notably, both the interaction controller and the direct wrench controller operate without reliance on force/torque sensors. Instead, a wrench observer algorithm is devised, considering external disturbances. Additionally, based on the kinematics constraints of the multiple aerials in the platform, a fusion algorithm for multiple Visual-Inertial Odometry (VIO) and kinematics constraints is developed, providing more accurate localization. A prototype of the IAP is constructed, and its capabilities are demonstrated through experiments including perception-aware object reconnaissance, aerial mapping, aerial peg-in-hole task, and 6D contact wrench generation. All experiments are conducted exclusively with onboard sensors. These tasks exemplify the merits of the proposed IAP and validate the effectiveness of the proposed control framework and fusion algorithm.

In this paper, we introduce PADUAV, a novel 5-DOF aerial platform designed to overcome the limitations of traditional tiltrotor vehicles. PADUAV features a unique mechanical design that incorporates two off-the-shelf quadrotors passively articulated to a rigid frame. This innovation enables free pitch rotation without mechanical constraints like cable winding, significantly enhancing its capabilities for various tasks. To control PADUAV’s 5 degrees of freedom, we propose a versatile and straightforward 5-DOF geometric tracking control strategy that generates 2D force and 3D torque. A decomposition approach is designed to distribute the output to the torque and thrust commands for each subplane, with no need for complex optimization. We validate our approach through three simulation experiments conducted in the Gazebo environment, leveraging the utilities provided by the RotorS simulator. These experiments not only demonstrate the feasibility of our platform but also provide new perspectives for future aerial platform development, particularly in terms of simulation-based approaches.