The rise in high-speed quadrotor applications demands aerodynamic models that explain the flight characteristics at these broader flight regimes. For developing these models using system identification methods, having information-rich data at these flight conditions is crucial. While there have been sufficient works in the input design for identification procedures in quadrotors, there are limited guidelines for high-speed flights. This work focuses on two key contributions to aid the high-speed quadrotor model identification process. First, an automated flight testing pipeline using various software tools has been developed to support the iterative input design process. Second, various inputs such as position tracking, trajectory tracking, and attitude injection while trajectory tracking have been designed. The goal of these input designs was to push the quadrotor velocities while trying to maximize the excitation in forces and moments. The HITL simulation tool, being part of the testing pipeline, was used to iteratively design and verify inputs before actual flight tests. Finally, automated high-speed flight tests of the designed inputs were conducted at the Cyberzoo indoor facility, reaching maximum velocities of up to 7 m/s. The results show that attitude injection while trajectory tracking provides a method to excite forces and moments during high-speed flights. This work is an initial attempt at understanding the effects of input design at high-speed flights with the goal of obtaining data for quadrotor model identification. The methodology and pipeline developed here serve as a platform to build and explore various other identification inputs with the scope to push the quadrotor flight speeds even further.

In order to gain more insight into the effects of propeller ducts on quadrotors in forward flight, this research analyses flight data obtained from free flight tests, performed in the Cyberzoo and the Open Jet Facility of the TU Delft. Using a quadrotor platform with detachable propeller ducts, both trimmed forward flight tests and flights exciting the F_x, F_z forces and the M_y moment, using both ducted and unducted configurations. From the analysis of the steady flight data, the ducted configuration flies at a significantly higher pitch angle compared to the unducted configuration. However, for the power consumption and the rotor speeds, a crossover point is present around an airspeed of 6 ms^-1. Before this crossover point the power consumption and total rotor speeds of the ducted configuration are lower than its unducted counterpart. The flights containing the excitations of the forces and the moment are used to identify an aerodynamic model of the quadrotor using stepwise regression. Using this technique a model of the ducts themselves is identified which can be added onto the unducted model in order to predict the response of the ducted quadrotor. The regressors of this model were also used to gain extra insight into the terms at play in the effects of the ducts.