Recent CEAS Aerospace Graduate Presents UAV Research at AHS International

Recent

UC College of Engineering and Applied Science

aerospace engineering graduate

Wei Wei

presented his work at the

AHS (American Helicopter Society) International's 71st Annual Forum and Technology Display

on May 7.

The three-day forum, held in Virginia Beach, Va., is the world’s leading international technical event on vertical flight technology. Wei’s work on “System Identification and Controller Optimization of a Quadrotor UAV,” which was co-authored with the U.S. Army’s CIFER/CONDUIT software developer,

Mark Tischler

, was featured at the conference.

Wei’s PhD work focused on the system identification and control development of a quadrotor (having four propellers) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Under the guidance of his advisor, Kelly Cohen, PhD and professor in the

CEAS Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

, and Tischler, Wei developed a dynamic model essential for autopilot design for a wide variety of unmanned aircraft having multiple rotors. He used Tischler’s computer program

CIFER®

to develop the dynamic models of multirotor systems. For this research in particular, he applied his method to quadrotor UAVs.

Wei’s research provides an efficient and effective method for multirotor system modeling and control development. It has a more accurate, less expensive model and control performance.

"A selling point for this configuration is its efficiency, in both time and money, and the accuracy," Wei says. "We're already proving it using flight-test data, and it has matched nearly perfectly. This would enable not only quadrotors, but any multirotors to operate on autopilot effectively."

During his time as a CEAS PhD student, Wei led a team of his fellow aerospace engineering students — Bryan Brown, Jeff Bennett, Nicholas Schwartz, Vince DeChellis and Nathaniel Richards — to apply his research and develop an autonomous UAV for the locally based company,

Workhorse Group

(formerly known as AMP Electric Vehicles). The UAV, named

HorseFly

, works in tandem with Workhorse electric delivery trucks to create a fast and safe method for delivering packaged goods.

The partnership between UC and Workhorse Group was secured through

UCRI

(University of Cincinnati Research Institute), an independent nonprofit institution working to connect UC experts to industry partners, facilitate commercialization of research and enhance experiential learning for UC students.

There is currently a patent filed for the UC-Workhorse joint research HorseFly delivery drone. Wei has been working at Workhorse for the last few months and plans to transfer back to UC as an adjunct instructor in the very near future.

About the AHS International’s 71st Annual Forum & Technology Display

The three-day meeting included more than 230 technical papers, totaling 250-plus presentations, detailing the latest theories and breakthroughs in vertical flight technology. Leaders in industry, academia and government discussed their perspectives on the future of vertical flight technology. Also included in the forum were panels of the CEOs of major helicopter manufacturers and suppliers, U.S. Army and U.S. Navy/Marine Corps aviation program managers, and other vertical flight science and technology leaders.

Guests of the conference had the opportunity to see the latest technologies from leading manufacturers, service providers, defense agencies, universities and research & development organizations as well as interact and share ideas with more than 1,200 of the world’s top vertical flight professionals.

For more information about the collaboration between the University of Cincinnati and Workhorse Group, please visit:

• http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/06/21/uc-researchers-develop-delivery-drones/11227635/
• http://www.uc.edu/news/nr.aspx?id=19929
• http://www.uc.edu/news/nr.aspx?id=19101
• http://www.local12.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/locally-made-drone-future-delivery-12537.shtml
• http://ceas.uc.edu/news-1314/ceas-develops-delivery-drones-with-amp-.html