RotorSuite: A MATLAB/Simulink Toolbox for Tilt Multi-Rotor UAV Modeling

TL;DR

RotorSuite is a MATLAB/Simulink toolbox that simplifies the modeling and simulation of various tilt multi-rotor UAVs, enhancing research and development efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive, user-friendly toolbox for accurate analytical and physics-based modeling of tilt multi-rotor UAVs, addressing time-consuming and error-prone manual processes.

Findings

Provides versatile modeling capabilities for various multi-rotor platforms

Includes detailed documentation and example use cases

Facilitates research, education, and industrial development

Abstract

In recent years, aerial platforms have evolved from passive flying sensors into versatile, contact-aware robotic systems, leading to rapid advances in platform design. Standard coplanar and collinear quadrotors have been complemented by modern tilted and tilting multi-rotor platforms with enhanced maneuverability. To properly analyze, control, and validate the performance of these emerging platforms, an accurate modeling step is required; however, this can be time-consuming, user-dependent and error-prone. To address this issue, we propose a MATLAB/Simulink toolbox for modeling and simulating the dynamics of a broad class of multi-rotor platforms through both an analytical and physics-based approaches. The toolbox, named RotorSuite, is provided with comprehensive documentation and example use cases, representing a valuable tool for didactic, research, and industrial development purposes.