COMET: A Dual Swashplate Autonomous Coaxial Bi-Copter AAV with High-Maneuverability and Long-Endurance
Shuai Wang, Xiaoming Tang, Junning Liang, Haowen Zheng, Biyu Ye, Zhaofeng Liu, Fei Gao, Ximin Lyu
AI summary
Problem
Coaxial bi-copter AAVs struggle to balance efficiency, maneuverability, and compactness due to rotor interference and limited control authority in traditional actuation designs.
Approach
The authors developed COMET, a compact coaxial bi-copter with a dual swashplate for independent rotor control, and optimized its rotor separation and blade angles through systematic bench testing.
Key results
- Optimized rotor separation (79 mm) and lower blade pitch (+1°) to maximize thrust and efficiency
- Dual swashplate configuration increases maximum control torque by up to 116.7% over single-swashplate designs
- Validated robust autonomous flight across varying payloads and complex trajectory tracking tasks
- Achieved 98% projected area reduction via folding blades while maintaining structural resonance safety
Why it matters
Provides a reliable, high-performance platform for compact autonomous aerial vehicles in GPS-denied or confined operational environments.
Abstract
Coaxial bi-copter autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) have garnered attention due to their potential for improved rotor system efficiency and compact form factor. However, balancing efficiency, maneuverability, and compactness in coaxial bi-copter systems remains a key design challenge, limiting their practical deployment. This letter introduces COMET, a coaxial bi-copter AAV platform featuring a dual swashplate mechanism. The coax- ial bi-copter system’s efficiency and compactness are optimized through bench tests, and the whole prototype’s efficiency and robustness under varying payload conditions are verified through flight endurance experiments. The maneuverability performance of the system is evaluated in comprehensive trajectory tracking tests. The results indicate that the dual swashplate configuration enhances tracking performance and improves flight efficiency compared to the single swashplate alternative. Successful au- tonomous flight trials across various scenarios verify COMET’s potential for real-world applications.