Adaptive Trajectory Tracking for Quadrotor MAVs in Presence of Parameter Uncertainties and External Disturbances

Abstract

This paper presents an adaptive trajectory tracking control strategy for quadrotor micro aerial vehicles (MAVs). The proposed approach, while maintaining the common assumption of an orientation dynamics faster than the translational one, removes the assumption of absence of external disturbances and of geometric center coincident with the Center of Mass (CoM). In particular, the trajectory tracking control law is made adaptive with respect to the presence of external forces and moments (e.g., due to wind) and to the uncertainty of parameters of the dynamic model, such as the position of the CoM. A stability analysis is presented to analytically support the proposed controller, while numerical simulations are provided in order to validate its performance.