A Self-Rotating Tri-Rotor UAV for Field of View Expansion and Autonomous Flight

TL;DR

This paper introduces SPINNER, a self-rotating tri-rotor UAV that expands sensor FoV and enhances perception without extra sensors, using a novel control framework for robust autonomous flight.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel self-rotating UAV design and a disturbance compensation control method that improves perception and flight stability without additional sensors or energy.

Findings

SPINNER significantly expands sensor FoV through continuous spin motion.

The UAV maintains robust flight under wind disturbances up to 4.8 m/s.

It achieves high-precision trajectory tracking at 2.0 m/s.

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) perception relies on onboard sensors like cameras and LiDAR, which are limited by the narrow field of view (FoV). We present Self-Perception INertial Navigation Enabled Rotorcraft (SPINNER), a self-rotating tri-rotor UAV for the FoV expansion and autonomous flight. Without adding extra sensors or energy consumption, SPINNER significantly expands the FoV of onboard camera and LiDAR sensors through continuous spin motion, thereby enhancing environmental perception efficiency. SPINNER achieves full 3-dimensional position and roll--pitch attitude control using only three brushless motors, while adjusting the rotation speed via anti-torque plates design. To address the strong coupling, severe nonlinearity, and complex disturbances induced by spinning flight, we develop a disturbance compensation control framework that combines nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) with incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion. Experimental results demonstrate that SPINNER maintains robust flight under wind disturbances up to 4.8 \,m/s and achieves high-precision trajectory tracking at a maximum speed of 2.0\,m/s. Moreover, tests in parking garages and forests show that the rotational perception mechanism substantially improves FoV coverage and enhances perception capability of SPINNER.