Comparison of PD, PID and Sliding-Mode Position Controllers for V–Tail Quadcopter Stability

Abstract

In this paper, a comparison of PD, PID, and SMC position controllers for a V-tail quadcopter is presented. First, a customized design of the V-tail quadcopter is shown to know the parameters of this structure and compare them with the commonly $\times $ structure quadcopter used in most papers. Then, the dynamic analysis of the V-tail quadcopter using the Newton–Euler formulation is presented. The main contribution of this paper remains in the design and Lyapunov stability analysis of the PD, PID, and SMC position controllers for the V-tail quadcopter because the robot manipulator methodology was used, treating the V-tail quadcopter as a robot manipulator. The simulation results validate the proposed controllers and algorithms for the V-tail quadcopter when the three controllers reach the desired position. Also, a non-conventional variable is introduced to study the stability analysis of unmanned aerial vehicles when controlled by PID position controller. Finally, a comparison between the three designed controllers for the V-tail quadcopter is presented, where the differences between each can be appreciated. So that, for the first time, three controllers for the V-tail quadcopter designed using the robot manipulator theory is presented.