Optimal sliding Gaussian control of a quadrotor aerial vehicle with a flexible structure has been demonstrated in six-degree-of-freedom flight simulation to be more robust to structural excitation than a standard proportional-derivative control scheme. A general derivation of the optimal sliding Gaussian controller, including an optimal gain selection algorithm and observer design, is presented. Additionally, a brief development of the equations of motion for a quadrotor with a flexible structure is provided as background for the nonlinear six-degree-of-freedom flight simulation results. Robustness properties of the optimal sliding Gaussian controller are evaluated using singular value analysis of linearized models of the closed-loop quadrotor with a flexible structure. Flight simulation and singular value analysis results illustrate the robustness improvements of optimal sliding Gaussian control over the standard proportional-derivative controller design.
Read full abstract