I think it would be fun to build a tilt-rotor with unified flight controls, like the Harrier or F-35. Has anyone thought about/tried or have any insight into how this could be done with ardupilot.
For reference, unified flight controls work something like this:
- Throttle stick: Controls forward speed, and tilt of motors. Pushing throttle stick forward would increase forward speed in all flight modes, not altitude.
- Yaw: Would be a mix between motor torque, and rudder
- Roll: Mix between ailerons and lifting motor thrust
- Elevator/Pitch stick: Controls elevation/altitude in all flight modes. Pulling down on the stick would increase altitude in hover, and in forward flight. Pushing stick down would decrease altitude similarly. This would have to be a mix between motor throttle and elevator control surfaces.
The beauty of this design is that you don’t have to flip a switch to change flight modes. And at low/taxi speeds, the tilt rotors would be used for forward movement so the fuselage can remain level and the aircraft could taxi on the ground.