Design, Analysis, and Experimental Validation of an Open-Architecture Quadcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Integrated Environmental Interaction Capability

This paper presents the systematic development of an open-architecture quadcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) designed to bridge the gap between closed commercial systems and the requirements of advanced aerospace research. Unlike conventional educational platforms, the proposed system integrates a 15-state Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) for robust state estimation and a teeth-type claw mechanism for active environmental interaction. The vehicle utilizes a high-stiffness carbon fiber composite frame, verified through Finite Element Analysis (FEA), exhibiting a minimum safety factor of 10.4 under peak thrust conditions. A critical contribution of this work is the implementation of a 10 Hz digital low-pass filter (DLPF) to mitigate motor-induced high-frequency vibrations, which was mathematically and experimentally shown to be essential for EKF stability. Experimental results confirm a stable flight endurance of 6.3 minutes with attitude tracking RMS errors maintained below 2 degrees, validating the platform’s efficacy for complex mission profiles.