Development of a Single Axis Tilting Quadcopter

Russell Oliver, Sui Yang Khoo, Michael Norton, Scott Adams, Abbas Kouzani
School of Engineering, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3216, Australia

Abstract—This paper presents design, fabrication, and testing and the z axis vertically down. The motor layout and direction
of a remotely piloted single axis tilting quadcopter. In the of rotation is shown in Fig. 1.
quadcopter, each motor can be tilted about a single axis. A single
axis tilting quadcopter has eight degrees of freedom allowing for
full 6-axis control. The principle benefit is horizontal movement of
the quadcopter without the quadcopter needing to pitch or roll the
body. The quadcopter is fabricated, and then tested.

Keywords—Quadcopter; UAV; unmanned aerial vehicle; ‘X’

configuration; 3D printing

I. INTRODUCTION
Quadcopters are a popular design for unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAV). Desirable features of the design include
mechanical simplicity, vertical take-off and landing, the ability
to hover and manoeuvrability at high and low speeds [1].
Applications of quadcopters as UAVs include aerial
photography, search and rescue, mapping and recreational
hobby flying. As a recreational pursuit, the piloting of
quadcopters with first person view cameras has evolved into a Fig. 1. Motor layout and direction of rotation.
sport with both racing and aerobatic performance components.
The development in this space has greatly reduced the cost of A. Traditional Quadcopter
particular components such as electronic flight controllers The magnitude of the thrust developed by each rotor is
incorporating inertial measurement units. given by the following equation:
The control of a quadcopter is achieved through a flight
controller with the ability to perform attitude measurements ‫ܨ‬௜ ൌ ‫ܭ‬௜ ߱௜ଶ (1)
using an inertial measurement unit, which adjusts the speed of
the 4 motors. The motors themselves are powered by electronics where ߱௜ is the angular velocity of the ith rotor and ‫ܭ‬௜ is a
speed controllers (ESC). Further orientation control can be constant for the specific rotor blade.
achieved by using a multi-axis electronic compass. For altitude For hovering the total thrust developed by the four rotors
control an electronic barometer can give an indication in must equal the weight of the craft in the direction of the weight
changes of height through measurements of atmospheric vector.
pressure. A Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver can be ݉݃Ԧ ൌ σସ௜ୀଵ ‫ܭ‬௜ ߱௜ଶ ȁ߮ ൌ ߠ ൌ Ͳ (2)
used for positon control and navigation [1].
Control techniques used for quadcopters include basic PID
controllers, sliding mode control [4, 5], robust nonlinear control For the quadcopter to maintain its location the quadcopter must
[3, 6] and adaptive neural networks based control [1]. remain parallel to the earth’s surface. To effect a change in
Traditional quadcopters are under actuated systems with position the body of the quadcopter is rotated in the pitch or roll
only four degrees of freedom being the four rotors. For large axes, which rotates the net thrust vector in the desired direction.
quadcopters the response time for large rotor sizes has been The torque developed by the motors in the pitch and roll axes
identified as an issue in maintaining control of the vehicle [2]. A is described by the linear combination of the four motor thrusts,
single axis tilting quadcopter can effect horizontal pose changes where l is the distance of the rotor from the centre of mass.
without needing rotate the body therefore the necessary actuator ߱ଶ
bandwidth needed to maintain attitude stability may be reduced. ‫ ۍ‬ଵଶ ‫ې‬
߬ఝ ௟ξଶ െͳ െͳ ͳ ͳ ‫߱ێ‬ଶ ‫ۑ‬
ቂ߬ ቃ ൌ ‫ܭ‬ቂ ቃ (3)
II. QUADCOPTER DYNAMIC MODEL ఏ ଶ െͳ ͳ െͳ ͳ ‫߱ێ‬ଷଶ ‫ۑ‬
‫ۑ ێ‬
The coordinate system used to describe both the traditional ‫߱ۏ‬ସଶ ‫ے‬
and tilting quadcopter in the body frame is defined as having x
Drag on the propellers results in a torque in the yaw axis at each
axis pointing forward, y axis pointing to the quadcopters right
motor. The resulting torque on the quadcopter in the yaw axis

978-1-5090-2597-8/16/$31.00 2016
c IEEE 1849
 is the sum of the four motor torques. The torque produced by
each motor is dependent on the drag constant for the rotor b,
angular velocity ߱ , rotational angular acceleration ߱ሶ  and
moment of inertia of the motor and rotor I.

߬ெ ൌ ܾ߱ଶ ൅ ‫߱ܫ‬ሶ
߬ట ൌ ߬ଶ ൅ ߬ସ െ ߬ଵ െ ߬ଷ (4)
B. Titling Rotor Quadcopter
As with the traditional quadcopter design for hovering the
net thrust must equal the weight of the quadcopter in the
direction of the weight vector. To effect change in the position
of the quadcopter the tilt angle and speed of each motor is
adjusted to develop a thrust component in the desired direction. Fig. 2. Base and top frame design.
The forces generated by the four rotors in the principle axes
in the body frame of the quadcopter are as follows:
ିξଶ ିξଶ ξଶ ξଶ B. Motor Tilt Mechanism
‫ܨ‬௫ ‫ ۍ‬ଶ •‹ ߠଵ •‹ ߠଶ •‹ ߠଷ •‹ ߠସ ‫ܨ ې‬ଵ
ଶ ଶ ଶ
‫ܨ‬Ԧ ൌ ቎‫ܨ‬௬ ቏ ൌ ‫ିێ‬ξଶ •‹ ߠ ‫ܨ ۑ‬ଶ (5) The motor tilt mechanism (Fig. 3) is designed for commonly
•‹ ߠସ ‫ ۑ‬൦‫ܨ‬ଷ ൪
ξଶ ିξଶ ξଶ
‫ ێ‬ଶ ଵ •‹ ߠଶ •‹ ߠଷ available servo motor and brushless motor sizes. The tilt
‫ܨ‬௭ ଶ ଶ ଶ
‫ߠ •‘… ۏ‬ଵ …‘• ߠଶ …‘• ߠଷ …‘• ߠସ ‫ܨ ے‬ସ mechanism base is designed with a hinge to support the motor
mounting plate, cradle for the servo and mounting holes. The
The torques generated by the four rotors in the body frame of mechanism was 3D printed using ABS plastic. The motor
the quadcopter are as follows: mounting plate was first designed to directly fit onto the splined
shaft of the servo motor. The flight testing revealed that the 3d
߬ఝ
printed ABS plastic fractured at this interface. The motor mount
࣎ ൌ ൥ ߬ఏ ൩ ൌ plate was redesigned to accept the servo horn provided with the
߬ట
servo. Six screws secure the mechanism to the frame. The
‫ܨ‬ଵ
െ…‘• ߠଵ െ…‘• ߠଶ …‘• ߠଷ …‘• ߠସ mechanism allows the motor to be tilted in either direction up
௟ξଶ ‫ܨ‬ଶ 45 degrees from the vertical position.
൥െ…‘• ߠଵ …‘• ߠଶ െ…‘• ߠଷ …‘• ߠସ ൩ ൦ ൪ ൅
ଶ ‫ܨ‬ଷ
•‹ ߠଵ •‹ ߠଶ •‹ ߠଷ •‹ ߠସ
‫ܨ‬ସ
ିξଶ ିξଶ
•‹ ߠସ ‫߬ ې‬ଵ
ξଶ ξଶ
‫ ۍ‬ଶ •‹ ߠଵ ଶ
•‹ ߠଶ
ଶ
•‹ ߠଷ
ଶ
‫ିێ‬ξଶ ିξଶ ξଶ ξଶ
‫ ۑ‬൦߬ଶ ൪ (6)
‫ێ‬ •‹ ߠଵ •‹ ߠଶ •‹ ߠଷ •‹ ߠସ ‫߬ ۑ‬ଷ
‫ ێ‬ଶ ଶ ଶ ଶ ‫ۑ‬
‫ ۏ‬െ…‘• ߠଵ …‘• ߠଶ െ…‘• ߠଷ …‘• ߠସ ‫߬ ے‬ସ

In comparison to a traditional quadcopter the tilting of rotors

will allow for the motor torques to influence the roll and pitch
axes. Due to the small tilt angles expected to be used the effect
of motor torques in the pith and roll axis will be marginal and
are discounted in the implementation of the controller.
III. HARDWARE DESIGN
A. Frame
The frame is designed to be light-weight, durable and
simple to manufacture. Two sheet metal plates are used and are
separated by 25mm standoffs. The length and width of the
frame is 307mm. The motor shaft centres when vertical are
located 260mm apart. The central area of has mounting holes
for the electronic power distribution board and flight controller.
Elsewhere the frame is slotted to reduce weight. The top frame
is designed with slots for battery mounting straps. The frame
was waterjet cut from 3mm Aluminium sheet.
Fig. 3. Tilt mechanism render.
C. Electronics and Motors
The electronics used on the quadcopter include a flight
controller, power distribution board, battery, radio receiver,
electronics speed controllers, servo motors and brushless
motors.
The flight controller is a “SP Racing F3 Deluxe”. It features
a STM32F303 CPU running at 72MHz. The CPU includes a
floating point unit. The flight controller utilises a MPU6050
accelerometer and gyroscope, MS5611 barometer and
HMC5883 compass. This unit was selected for its small form
factor, existing software support and high level of integration.

1850 2016 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON) — Proceedings of the International Conference
 A 2.4 GHz 6 channel PWM transmitter and receiver allows
for remotely piloted operation. Four channels are allocated to
pitch, roll, yaw and thrust control. The fifth auxiliary channel is
used to arm the quadcopter and the sixth is used to switch
between the traditional body roll control mode and the single
axis tilting control mode.
The motors used are Multistar™ 2216 Baby Beast brushless
out-runner motors. These are powered by Afro electronic speed
controllers (ESC) with a continuous current rating of 12 Amps.
The motors and ESC’s were chosen for their balance between
performance and cost
The servo motors used for the tilt mechanism are Turnigy
2216 coreless metal gear servos with a rated torque of 3.9kg/cm
and speed 460 degrees per second at 6V.
A 3 cell lithium polymer battery with a nominal voltage of
11.1V and 2200mAh capacity was used to power the
quadcopter using through the power distribution board. This
board also features two voltage regulators with 5V and 12V
outputs. The 5V output is used to power the flight controller.
The total weight of the quadcopter is 810 grams.
Fig. 4. Isometric render.
Fig. 5. Finished construction.
2016 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON) — Proceedings of the International Conference
Fig. 6. Constructed tilt mechanism.
IV. DESIGN
The controller is designed to perform 2 main tasks: stabilize the
orientation of the quadcopter to maintain a pitch and roll angle
of 0 degrees and translate the pilot’s commands for horizontal
and overall throttle commands into individual motor speeds and
tilt angles.
A second order PID controller is used to stabilise the
quadcopter in the 3 rotational axes. Positional stability is
controlled by the pilot. The quadcopters orientation is
determined from the integration of gyroscope rate values and
the acceleration vector obtained from the accelerometer. The
gyroscope values undergo high pass filtering to reduce the
effect of drift. Accelerometer values undergo low pass filtering
to reduce the effect of noise from the sensor and vibration of
the frame.
The controller receives pilot commands as inputs for
movement along the longitudinal x and lateral y axis of the body
frame, yaw z and overall thrust. These control inputs are
represented by X, Y, Z and T respectively.
The commands sent to each motor are first described by the
following equation,
݉ଵ ͳ െͳ ͳ െͳ ܶ
݉ଶ ͳ െͳ െͳ ͳ ߠௌ
൦݉ ൪ ൌ ൦ ൪൦ ൪ (7)
ଷ ͳ ͳ ͳ ͳ ߶ௌ
݉ସ ͳ ͳ െͳ െͳ ߰௦
where ߠௌ ǡ ߶ௌ ǡ ߰௦ respectively represent the PID controller
output signals for pitch, roll and yaw.
A feature of the CleanFlight flight control software is the
motor saturation correction. During large control inputs the
throttle signals outputted may exceed 100% and possibly a
negative value. In that event the control effect desired is less
effective. If a throttle signal is generated for a motor exceeds
100%, the maximum overshoot detected from any motor is
subtracted from all motor output signals.
‫ݔܽܯ݂ܫ‬ሺ݉௜ ሻ ൐ ͳ
݉௜ ൌ ݉௜ െ ሺ‫ݔܽܯ‬ሺ݉௜ ሻ െ ͳሻ
1851
 The tilt angle sent to each servo motor is
ߠଵ െͳ ͳ ͳ ܺ
ߠଶ െͳ െͳ ͳ ܻ
൦ ൪ ൌ ‫ܭ‬൦ ൪ ൥ ൩,
ߠଷ ͳ ͳ ͳ ɔ
ୗ
ߠସ ͳ െͳ ͳ
where ߠ௜ is the servo angle for each the ith rotor, K is control
input gain and ߮ௌ is the PID controller yaw output signal.
V. RESULTS
A test flight was performed on the 18th of May 2016. The
quadcopter was remotely piloted by the principle author. The
quadcopter was flown in both the traditional body roll control
mode and the single axis tilting control mode. The quadcopter
was piloted to perform horizontal movement using both the
traditional and single axis tilting modes.
Fig. 7. Quadcopter in flight.
During flight using the single axis tiling control mode the
quadcopter experienced periods of instability where
oscillations about the yaw axis were observed indicting that
large overshooting occurred. This mainly occurred during
controlled vertical descents when the vehicle would have been
descending through the turbulent air underneath the vehicle.
The instability apart may have been caused by the turbulent air
but also by a combination of mechanical latency in the servo
motors, incorrect PID parameters, and a torque about the yaw
axis caused by the inertia of the motor and rotor located above
each of the tilting axis.
The quadcopter was rendered inoperable after a failed
takeoff in the traditional control mode due to pilot error.
Damaged suffered by the quadcopter included a deformed base
frame plate and the stripping of gears in two servo motors.
Disassembly of the quadcopter also revealed shearing in the
ABS plastic around the splined shaft of one servo motor. The
mechanism was redesigned to accommodate the servo horn
supplied with the servo that is manufactured using a higher
strength plastic and to a tighter tolerance.
1852 2016 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON) — Proceedings of the International Conference
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper the design and evaluation of a single axis tiling
quadcopter is presented. The testing of the quadcopter
(8)
demonstrated the primary goal of horizontal movement with
reduced change in the orientation of the main body.
Disadvantages of a single axis tilting quadcopter observed were
an increased number of points of failure and power usage due
to the inclusion of the servo motors and tilting mechanism. It is
expected that the instability around the yaw axis can mitigated
by further tuning of the yaw PD gains, or filtering of the
stabilized yaw input to the servo control equation. The torque
produced by the movement of the motor mass about the tilting
axis would be reduced by redesigning the tilting mechanism to
locate the motor’s centre of mass along the tilt axis. Further
research will be aimed at improving the quadcopters stability
further and validating its performance using tracking. A
disadvantage of the X configuration used as opposed to the
cross configuration is the decrease in efficiency when
performing manoeuvres directly along the x and y axes due to
the opposing thrust components. The efficiency of directly
moving along the x and y axes is limited to 71% due to the 45
cosine of the thrust in the x and y axes when the motors are
tilted. The decrease in efficiency may be an acceptable
compromise with other design considerations such as the
placement of cameras and other sensors, stability and
aesthetics. Further exploration of variations in rotor and tilt axis
configurations could yield a design offering full six degrees of
freedom control while improving the efficiency of the craft
while performing common vehicle manoeuvres.
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