Design, modeling, and nonlinear model predictive control of a novel fully actuated uav for safe transport of hazardous liquids

Abstract

Transporting hazardous liquids with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) demands exceptionally high precision and stability in flight control to prevent catastrophic accidents caused by the destructive fluid sloshing phenomenon. This paper presents the design, mathematical modeling, and a hybrid control architecture (Clustered PID-NMPC) for a novel fully actuated UAV dedicated to the safe transportation of hazardous liquids. Featuring an innovative mechanical structure, the proposed UAV overcomes the inherent limitations of conventional underactuated drones by providing active dynamic decoupling between translational and rotational dynamics”. The dynamic model of the system is derived utilizing Newton–Euler and Euler–Lagrange formulations, and its validity is verified through comprehensive simulations. The designed controller significantly enhances system performance across three distinct scenarios (ideal conditions, step disturbance, and continuous sinusoidal wind) in comparison to a classical quadcopter. Simulation results demonstrate that, alongside superior trajectory tracking accuracy, faster transient response, and enhanced disturbance rejection capabilities compared to traditional UAVs, the proposed system achieves near-zero attitude deviation (near-horizontal cabin stabilization). By significantly minimizing translational-rotational coupling and dynamic angular panning, this platform provides an effective baseline mechanism to substantially mitigate pan-induced fluid sloshing, validating the highly practical and safe applicability of the proposed UAV for hazardous liquid transportation missions.