Modeling and Identification of Vibrations in a UAV for Aerial Manipulation

Aerial manipulators have many important application scenarios, such as inspec-tion and maintenance, search and rescue, structure assembly, and logistics. One important challenge in aerial manipulation is related to the vibrations induced on the manipulator and its end-effector by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), which significantly affect the grasping and manipulation precision/performance. In this paper, vibration analysis of a heavy payload octocopter has been carried out using Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA). A simplified Mass-Spring-Damper (MSD) dynamic model of the system has then been proposed, whose dynamic parameters have been identified by analyzing selected experimental modes of vibration. The identified model will be useful for the design of the ma-nipulator and related vibrations isolation system.