Date of Award:

12-2026

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Douglas F. Hunsaker

Committee

Douglas F. Hunsaker

Committee

Greg Droge

Committee

Tianyi He

Abstract

Unmanned aerial systems, commonly known as drones, are increasingly used for research, environmental monitoring, and testing new aircraft concepts. Many commercially available drone flight controllers work well for standard aircraft designs, but they can be difficult to adapt for experimental vehicles that use unconventional control methods or require detailed monitoring during testing. This creates challenges for researchers who need flexible and reliable tools to safely evaluate new flight technologies. This work presents the development of a custom drone flight control system designed specifically for experimental research. The system integrates custom electronics and software that allow researchers to easily modify control behavior, collect detailed flight data, and monitor system performance in real time. In addition to flight testing, the system supports simulation-based testing, allowing new control strategies and aircraft configurations to be evaluated safely before being flown on an aircraft. This combined simulation and flight testing capability enables faster and safer development of experimental aircraft. The flight control system is demonstrated using multiple aircraft, including an experimental platform called the Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage (BIRE). This aircraft replaces the traditional vertical tail with a rotating rear control surface inspired by bird flight, creating unique control challenges. Testing on this platform demonstrates the flexibility and reliability of the developed flight system and provides real flight data for continued research and development. Overall, this work provides a practical and adaptable flight control framework that supports safe and efficient testing of experimental drone technologies. By enabling rapid iteration between simulation and flight testing, this system helps advance research in unconventional aircraft design and control.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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