Embedded thrust estimator design of a brush-less direct current motor used in multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The interaction of multi-rotor UAVs with the environment is an active topic of research. The interaction tasks include wall painting, crack detection, corrosion detection, and inspection tasks. The interaction tasks require precision force control. Many existing system’s in the literature use an open-loop static map for thrust control design, a small change in thrust will result in inaccurate tasks. In this research, an embedded thrust estimator design is proposed based on the systems physical model along with using the rotors acceleration and motor current acquired from embedded sensors. The outcome of this research is to select an ESC which has inbuilt motor current and rotor angular velocity sensing. To study the influence of the wind disturbance on a BLDC rotor system used in multi-rotor UAV. The disturbance is created by blocking objects or in the presence of another rotor. This work is an important step towards having a closed-loop thrust controller designed to have precise thrust forces.