Analysis of Approaches to the Control of Air Manipulation Systems

The chapter provides an analytical overview of existing approaches to solving the problems of controlling aerial manipulation systems (AMS) and the physical interaction of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with ground-based objects, in particular when solving problems of agricultural production. The relevance of the introduction of robotic systems in the agricultural field is caused by socio-economic reasons and a reducing the world’s freshwater resources. Among the UAVs that are actively beginning to be used for monitoring land, mapping land productivity and planning fertilizer application areas, multicopters are distinguished, the advantage of which is the vertical take-off and high resolution of the sensors. Multicopters can be equipped with an onboard manipulator and sensor devices, such as a video camera, thermal imager, thermometer, gas sensors, sonar, wind speed sensors, pressure sensors, infrared and other sensors. The modern researches of UAVs with a manipulator are discussed, including those devoted to the problems of flight control, avoidance of contact with the ground, interaction with the surrounding space, as well as physical interaction with ground-based objects. The addition of an on-board manipulation system to the UAV significantly complicates the algorithms of operation, design and leads to an increase in overall dimensions. The physical interaction of the manipulator with objects complicates the process of UAV stabilization, which in turn leads to difficulties in positioning the UAV and reduces the accuracy of the capture guidance. In addition, the physical interaction of the manipulator with objects requires increased energy resources of the UAV. The research presents an original classification of components of aerial manipulation systems, describing various options of on-board vehicles necessary for the implementation of the functional purpose of a UAV with a manipulator. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.