Characterization of Vibration Absorber for Mounting Sensors on Micro Air Vehicle

Abstract

The development of a vibration isolation system for mounting sensors onboard a rotary wing Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) is discussed in this paper. Rotor based MAVs are prone to vibrations which are primarily composed of frequencies equals to rotor rpm and integer multiplies of the product of number of blades and rotor rpm. Such vibrations severely restrict the use of aaccelerometers as an effective sensor for measurement of vehicle rigid body accelerations. In general, various types of foam are used to support on-board sensors. However effectiveness of such material is not well established. The variation of transmissibility with different type of foam is studied and a selection criterion is developed for selection of appropriate vibration isolating material. This criterion proposes more than 50% reduction in the amplitude of vibration transmitted to the IMU during flight which is achieved using polyurethane foam in current work.