RotorSuite: A MATLAB/Simulink Toolbox for Tilt Multi-Rotor UAV Modeling

2026-02-21

AI Summary

This work proposes RotorSuite, a unified, modular modeling and simulation toolbox based on MATLAB/Simulink, to address the challenges of time-consuming, experience-dependent, and tool-inconsistent modeling processes for tilting/tilt-rotor multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). By integrating analytical modeling with physics-based simulation, RotorSuite enables flexible configuration across a wide range of multirotor architectures and offers, for the first time, a systematic modeling solution tailored specifically to tilting/tilt-rotor platforms. Accompanied by comprehensive documentation and illustrative examples, the toolbox significantly lowers the barrier to entry for UAV modeling, enhancing efficiency in research, education, and engineering development while maintaining high fidelity and accuracy.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Model-Based Reasoning
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human Behavior
• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Applied ML and AI for Web-based mobile applications
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

In recent years, aerial platforms have evolved from passive flying sensors into versatile, contact-aware robotic systems, leading to rapid advances in platform design. Standard coplanar and collinear quadrotors have been complemented by modern tilted and tilting multi-rotor platforms with enhanced maneuverability. To properly analyze, control, and validate the performance of these emerging platforms, an accurate modeling step is required; however, this can be time-consuming, user-dependent and error-prone. To address this issue, we propose a MATLAB/Simulink toolbox for modeling and simulating the dynamics of a broad class of multi-rotor platforms through both an analytical and physics-based approaches. The toolbox, named RotorSuite, is provided with comprehensive documentation and example use cases, representing a valuable tool for didactic, research, and industrial development purposes.

Problem

• tilt multi-rotor UAV
• modeling
• dynamics
• MATLAB/Simulink
• aerial robotics

Innovation

• tilt multi-rotor UAV
• MATLAB/Simulink toolbox
• dynamics modeling
• physics-based simulation
• RotorSuite