Modelling, Design, and Control of a Central Motor Driving Reconfigurable Quadcopter

Constrained by fixed frame dimensions, conventional drones usually demonstrate insufficient capabilities to accommodate complex environments. However, the reconfigurable drone can address this limitation through its deformable frame equipped with actuators or passive interaction mechanisms. Nevertheless, these additional components may introduce an excessive weight burden, which conflicts with the lightweight objective in aircraft design. In this work, we propose a novel reconfigurable quadrotor inspired by the swimming morphology of jellyfish, with only one actuator placed at the centre of the frame to achieve significant morphological reconfiguration. In the design of the morphing mechanism, three telescopic sleeves are driven by the actuator, enabling arms’ rotation to achieve a maximum projected area reduction of 55%. The nested design of sleeves ensures a sufficient morphing range while maintaining structural compactness in the fully deployed mode. Furthermore, key structural dimensions are optimized, reducing the central motor load by up to 65% across configurations. After deriving parameter variations during morphing, Proportion–Integration–Differentiation (PID) controllers are implemented and flight simulations are conducted in MATLAB. Results confirm the drone’s sustained controllability during and after reconfiguration, with an “8”-shaped trajectory tracking root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.109 m and successful traversal through long narrow slits, reducing mission duration under certain conditions.