Feedback Linearization with Zero Dynamics Stabilization for Quadrotor Control

Abstract

A control solution for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle encapsulating a nonlinear inner-loop based on the application of feedback linearization to the attitude and altitude dynamics is proposed in this paper. Linear quadratic controllers with integrative action are implemented not only to the resulting inner-loop chain of integrators, but also to the outer-loop, that controls the horizontal movement and, consequently, stabilizes the zero-dynamics. The required full state-feedback relies on measurements from motion sensors and on-flight estimates provided by Kalman filters and a nonlinear attitude filter. In simulation, the capacity of trajectory tracking and withstanding significant deviations of the mass and inertia values of the proposed control structure are evaluated while considering saturation and noisy measurements. The simulations results were experimentally validated using a commercially available drone. The modeling and control system architecture are validated by the experimental results. Additionally, a comparison with the results achieved with a linear control solution developed in a previous work is drawn.