Quadrotor System Research Articles

Quadrotor height control system using LQR and recurrent artificial neural networks

The quadorotor is a type of unmanned flying vehicle known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). In recent years, quadrotors have attracted much attention from researchers around the world due to their excellent maneuverability. A good control system in this quadrotor system is needed for ease of use of this quadrotor. One control system that is often used is the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) control system. This control system has challenges for dynamic system disturbances in quadrotor control. Researchers proposed a recurrent artificial neural network (RNN) system to address these challenges.RRN is used to change the value of the feedback component in the LQR control system. The nature of the feedback component in LQR, which is static, is changed based on the system error value based on changes in the error value entered into the RNN. The result of this RNN is a change in the value of the LQR feedback component based on the input of the system. The results of this research show that LQR control with RNN produces a faster system response of 0.075 seconds and a faster settling time of 0.221 seconds. Compensation for the system response speed produces a higher overshot value.

Event-triggered finite-time fuzzy tracking control for a time-varying state constrained quadrotor system based on disturbance observer

In contrast with most existing results concerning quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wherein time-triggered controllers or only symmetric state constraints are considered, this paper deals with the event-triggered finite-time trajectory tracking control problem for quadrotor UAV with asymmetric time-varying state constraints and unknown external disturbances. Firstly, the fuzzy logic system is used to approximate the nonlinear relationship of the quadrotor UAV system, and a disturbance observer is designed to compensate for composite disturbances. Secondly, the command filter and the event-triggered mechanism are introduced into the controller design, while asymmetric time-varying Lyapunov functions are constructed. Thus, the computational complexity and communication burden are reduced, and the event-triggered finite-time adaptive fuzzy controller is guaranteed to stabilize the quadrotor UAV in finite-time without violating all asymmetric time-varying state constraints. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed control strategy.

Fault-tolerant control against actuator faults based on extended state observer for quadrotor UAV

Abstract A model predictive control (MPC) strategy is devised to handle the issue of multi-actuators partial failure faults of quadrotor vehicles. Firstly, considering a quadrotor system with actuator partial failure faults and unknown disturbances, the quadrotor dynamics model is analyzed and established. Then, the MPC attitude fault-tolerant controller is devised to transform the issue of controlling the attitude angle of a quadrotor into a quadratic programming solution problem, and the extended state observer (ESO) is devised to evaluate the faults and perturbations, which highly and greatly improves the system’s suppression capability against disturbances. Finally, numerical simulation experiments demonstrate the scheme’s fault-tolerance to actuator faults and its ability to suppress unknown perturbations, while the results of semi-physical simulation experiments also prove that the method is effective and feasible.

Model-Free RBF Neural Network Intelligent-PID Control Applying Adaptive Robust Term for Quadrotor System

This paper proposes a quadrotor system control scheme using an intelligent–proportional–integral–differential control (I-PID)-based controller augmented with a radial basis neural network (RBF neural network) and the proposed adaptive robust term. The I-PID controller, similar to the widely utilized PID controller in quadrotor systems, demonstrates notable robustness. To enhance this robustness further, the time-delay estimation error was compensated with an RBF neural network. Additionally, an adaptive robust term was proposed to address the shortcomings of the neural network system, thereby constructing a more robust controller. This supplementary control input integrated an adaptation term to address significant signal changes and was amalgamated with a reverse saturation filter to remove unnecessary control input during a steady state. The adaptive law of the proposed controller was designed based on Lyapunov stability to satisfy control system stability. To verify the control system, simulations were conducted on a quadrotor system maneuvering along a spiral path in a disturbed environment. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed controller achieves high tracking performance across all six axes. Therefore, the controller proposed in this paper can be configured similarly to the previous PID controller and shows satisfactory performance.

Adaptive Multi-Input Super Twisting Control for a Quadrotor: Singular Perturbation Approach

Singular perturbations easily result in the problem of high gain. Instead of high gain feedbacks, this work proposes an adaptive two-time-scale (TTS) super twisting control (STWC) algorithm for the attitude tracking of a singularly perturbed quadrotor system (SPQS). The bounds of uncertainties are assumed to be perturbed around their nominal values. First, a nominal STWC with slow and fast control gains is designed to achieve the finite-time attitude tracking for the nominal SPQS. The finite-time stability of the close-loop system is proven by utilizing the <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon$</tex-math></inline-formula> -dependent Lyapunov method. Then, dynamically adapted slow and fast control gains initialized at their nominal values are used for the accurate finite-time convergence of tracking errors to the region around the origin, which avoids overestimating the values of control gains. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of the proposed controller in terms of attitude stabilization and tracking, and robustness to external disturbances.

Tuning the Proportional-Integral-Derivative Control Parameters of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Artificial Neural Networks for Point-to-Point Trajectory Approach.

Nowadays, trajectory control is a significant issue for unmanned micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) due to large disturbances such as wind and storms. Trajectory control is typically implemented using a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. In order to achieve high accuracy in trajectory tracking, it is essential to set the PID gain parameters to optimum values. For this reason, separate gain values are set for roll, pitch and yaw movements before autonomous flight in quadrotor systems. Traditionally, this adjustment is performed manually or automatically in autotune mode. Given the constraints of narrow orchard corridors, the use of manual or autotune mode is neither practical nor effective, as the quadrotor system has to fly in narrow apple orchard corridors covered with hail nets. These reasons require the development of an innovative solution specific to quadrotor vehicles designed for constrained areas such as apple orchards. This paper recognizes the need for effective trajectory control in quadrotors and proposes a novel neural network-based approach to tuning the optimal PID control parameters. This new approach not only improves trajectory control efficiency but also addresses the unique challenges posed by environments with constrained locational characteristics. Flight simulations using the proposed neural network models have demonstrated successful trajectory tracking performance and highlighted the superiority of the feed-forward back propagation network (FFBPN), especially in latitude tracking within 7.52745 × 10-5 RMSE trajectory error. Simulation results support the high performance of the proposed approach for the development of automatic flight capabilities in challenging environments.

Towards High-Precision Quadrotor Trajectory Following Capabilities: Modelling, Parameter Estimation, and LQR Control

Abstract Quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are small, agile four-rotor systems suitable for various applications, from surveillance to disaster support missions. Hence, achieving high-precision trajectory tracking is crucial for their successful deployment. This research focuses on modelling, parameter identification, and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) control design for quadrotors, aiming to enhance their trajectory following capabilities. The quadrotor dynamics are a sixth degree-of-freedom (6DOF) equation of motion derived from Newton’s second law, encompassing moment of inertia, centre of gravity, weight, and thrust of propeller parameters. Experimental measurements are conducted to accurately determine these parameters, ensuring a realistic representation of the quadrotor system. Subsequently, a linearized model is constructed to provide a suitable plant for control system development. The LQR control design is intended to improve the trajectory tracking performance. This control strategy is validated through simulation and practical experiments, demonstrating its effectiveness in achieving high-precision trajectory following capabilites. The proposed approach demonstrates that LQR control effectively guides the quadrotor to resemble a predefined trajectory, experiencing only 3 % overshoot observed during the initial phase of flight.

Design and real-time implementation of a robust backstepping non-singular integral terminal sliding mode attitude control for a quadrotor aircraft

This paper concerns the problem of robust attitude control of a quadrotor aircraft subjected to modeling inaccuracies and wind disturbances. First, the model dynamics and state space representation of the quadrotor system are designed by considering the impact of disturbances and uncertainties. Then, a novel robust backstepping non-singular integral terminal sliding mode control (BNITSMC) is synthesized for the quadrotor attitude with the aim of enhancing the tracking accuracy. To strengthen the system’s robustness and guarantee the reachability of the sliding surface while reducing chattering, the supertwisting algorithm (ST) is used. Closed-loop stability and state convergence are guaranteed via the Lyapunov theory. Some experimental flight tests have been executed to validate the workability of the developed flight control. The obtained results prove that the recommended technique can provide improved performance in terms of stabilization and tracking precision.

Adaptive prescribed performance based on recursive nonsingular terminal sliding mode control for quad-rotor systems under uncertainty and disturbance: Real-time validation

In this paper, at the aim of the fast trajectory-following control of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems subject to uncertainty and disturbance, the adaptive prescribed performance control based recursive nonsingular terminal sliding mode control is suggested. Afterward, for the fast trajectory-following control of the uncertain and perturbed quad-rotor system, a recursive nonsingular terminal sliding mode strategy is recommended. Since the better transient and steady-state response of the sliding mode surface is of the utmost importance in the design of the controller, the prescribed performance control scheme is proposed in which the transformed prescribed form of the previously proposed recursive nonsingular terminal sliding surface is obtained to prove that the recursive nonsingular terminal sliding surface can converge to a preset region. Whereas unknown bounded uncertainty and disturbance always exist in the UAV system's dynamical model which decreases its performance and efficiency, the adaptive mechanism is applied to approximate uncertain bounds of uncertainty and disturbance to advance the implementation of the UAV system. Later, quick reachability of the prescribed form switching surface is demonstrated using Lyapunov concept. Ultimately, simulation results using MATLAB/Simulink over a quad-rotor system and real-time simulation using the Speedgoat Real-Time Target Machine platform are conducted to validate the feasibility and performance of the proposed method.

Barrier Lyapunov function–based command-filtered adaptive fuzzy control of random quadrotor systems

This paper is devoted to adaptive trajectory tracking of quadrotor systems with full-state constraints and random disturbances. The command-filtering technology combined with error compensation mechanisms is proposed to deal with the “explosion of complexity” problem in traditional backstepping design and reduction of the filtering errors. The Barrier Lyapunov functions (BLFs) are constructed to ensure that all system states do not violate the boundary of its constraints. The command-filtered adaptive fuzzy controller is designed such that the state constraints are not breached almost surely, all signals in the closed-loop system are bounded almost surely, and the first-order moment of the tracking error converges to an arbitrarily small neighborhood of zero by parameters tuning. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control method is illustrated by simulation results.

Model-free low-power observer based robust trajectory tracking control of UAV quadrotor with unknown disturbances

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to design an output-feedback algorithm based on low-power observer (LPO), robust chattering-free controller and nonlinear disturbance observer (DO) to achieve trajectory tracking of quadrotor in the Cartesian plane.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve trajectory tracking control, firstly the decoupled rotational and translational model of quadrotor are modified by introducing backstepped state-space variables. In the second step, robust integral sliding mode control is designed based on the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) technique. In the third step, a DO is constructed. In next step, the measurable outputs, i.e. rotational and translational state variables, are used to design the LPO. Finally, in the control algorithm all state variables and its rates are replaced with its estimates obtained using the state-observer.FindingsThe finding includes output-feedback control (OFC) algorithm designed by using a LPO. A modified backstepping model for rotational and rotational systems is developed prior to the design of integral sliding mode control based on PID technique. Unlike traditional high-gain observers (HGO), this paper used the LPO for state estimation of quadrotor systems to solve the problem of peaking phenomenon in HGO. Furthermore, a nonlinear DO is designed such that it attenuates disturbance with unknown magnitude and frequency. Moreover, a chattering reduction criterion has been introduced to solve the inherited chattering issue of controllers based on sliding mode technique.Practical implicationsThis paper presents input and output data-driven model-free control algorithm. That is, only input and output of the quadrotor model are required to achieve the trajectory tracking control. Therefore, for practical implementation, the number of on-board sensor is reduced.Originality/valueAlthough extensive research has been done for designing OFC algorithms for quadrotor, LPO has never been implemented for the rotational and translational state estimations of quadrotor. Furthermore, the mathematical model of rotational and translational systems is modified by using backstepped variables followed by the controller designed using PID and integral sliding mode control technique. Moreover, a DO is developed for attenuation of disturbance with unknown bound, magnitude and frequency.

An improved nonsingular adaptive super twisting sliding mode controller for quadcopter.

This paper presents an improved nonsingular adaptive super twisting sliding mode control for tracking of a quadrotor system in the presence of external disturbances and uncertainty. The initial step involves developing a dynamic model for the quadrotor that is free from singularities, achieved through the utilization of the Newton-Quaternion formalism. Then, the super twisting algorithm is used to develop a novel sliding mode control that mitigates chattering. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is employed for the adjustment of the controller gains. Moreover, to maintain stable control of the quadcopter, even in scenarios where the upper limit of disturbances is unknown, an adaptive rule grounded in Lyapunov stability is applied. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed controller reduces tracking errors to 0.1% for roll, 0.05% for pitch, and 2.2% for altitude, outperforming other state-of-the-art sliding mode controllers. Additionally, the proposed controller effectively rejects disturbances, maintaining minimal steady-state errors of 0.01° for roll, 0.02° for pitch, and 0.001° for yaw, significantly better than conventional controllers. These results highlight tracking and disturbance rejection capabilities of the proposed controller, making its real-time implementation for quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) feasible.

Adaptive Distributed Attitude Consensus of a Heterogeneous Multiagent Quadrotor System: Singular Perturbation Approach

Singular perturbations easily cause the problem of high gain control (HGC) of a multi-agent quadrotor system (MAQS), that easily excite hazardous high frequency oscillations in the system states. Without HGC, this work studies the distributed fixed-time attitude consensus control problem of multiple heterogeneous quadrotors in presence of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">unknown Lipschitz input disturbances and directed topology</i> . First, the second order sliding mode, composed of consensus errors of “slow” Euler angles and “fast” angular velocities, is designed to be two-time-scale (TTS). Then, an adaptive super twisting controller is designed to produce an integrated slow-fast control structure, and adjust controller gains in different time scales with respect to the disturbance gradients. On this basis, an <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon$</tex-math></inline-formula> -dependent Lyapunov framework is built for the MAQS on multiple time scales, which provide a rigorous theoretical basis for the fast and robust attitude consensus, and estimate the reaching time subject to singular perturbations. Simulation results on a heterogeneous MAQS consisting of four agents are provided to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed controller.

Quadrotor Position and Attitude Tracking Using Advanced Second-Order Sliding Mode Control for Disturbance

Although sliding mode control (SMC) provides powerful control performance, it exhibits chattering phenomena that can lead to operational issues in quadrotor systems when certain thresholds are reached. To address this limitation, this study introduces second-order sliding mode control (SOSMC), which significantly reduces chattering. Furthermore, a modified version of the SOSMC, called advanced second-order sliding mode control (ASOSMC), is proposed by incorporating an additional term to enhance its control capabilities. The ASOSMC exhibits a stability higher than that of traditional SOSMC during quadrotor flight. We established the stability of the ASOSMC system using a more powerful strict Lyapunov stability analysis instead of the conventional Lyapunov stability employed in SMC. This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of the ASOSMC via simulation and compares it with those of conventional SMC (CSMC) and SOSMC. The simulation results confirm that the ASOSMC offers superior control performance in quadrotor systems.

Design and Control of an Innovative Overactuated Thrust Vectoring Six-DoF Quadrotor for Extreme and Challenging Environments

The wide spectrum of recent applications for UAVs imposes further challenges to their abilities and control. This is especially true when operating in harsh and hostile environments where disturbances are huge and actuators are prone to failure. Conventional systems and traditional control techniques are not sufficient for stability and tracking under these circumstances. This paper proposes a unique innovative overactuated quadrotor system that has six DoFs. The vehicle has four rotors and each rotor can tilt independently in the [Formula: see text]-plane. It has the ability to correct its position and attitude in a decoupled way which is different from the conventional quadrotor configurations. Sliding-mode control associated with switching control mode is used for the control algorithm of the system. The system shows agility in the face of large disturbances and robustness against actuator failure which makes it a perfect fit for extreme and challenging environments. The concept of the system and its ability are illustrated in simulation with promising results.

Real-Time Optimal States Estimation with Inertial and Delayed Visual Measurements for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Motion estimation is a major issue in applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). This paper proposes an entire solution to solve this issue using information from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and a monocular camera. The solution includes two steps: visual location and multisensory data fusion. In this paper, attitude information provided by the IMU is used as parameters in Kalman equations, which are different from pure visual location methods. Then, the location of the system is obtained, and it will be utilized as the observation in data fusion. Considering the multiple updating frequencies of sensors and the delay of visual observation, a multi-rate delay-compensated optimal estimator based on the Kalman filter is presented, which could fuse the information and obtain the estimation of 3D positions as well as translational speed. Additionally, the estimator was modified to minimize the computational burden, so that it could run onboard in real time. The performance of the overall solution was assessed using field experiments on a quadrotor system, compared with the estimation results of some other methods as well as the ground truth data. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Interval-valued fuzzy estimation and its application to adaptive control of quadrotor

In this paper, a combination of fuzzy clustering estimation and sliding mode control is used to control a quadrotor system, whose mathematical model is complex and contains unknown elements, including structure and parameters. Additionally, the system may be susceptible to external environmental disturbances. Initially, the nonlinear unknown components of the system are estimated using a fuzzy model. We introduce a novel approach for constructing a Takagi–Sugeno (TS) interval-valued fuzzy model (IVFM) based on input–output data obtained from the identified system. Following the construction of the fuzzy model that estimates the unknown aspects of the quadrotor system, we implement a control strategy with online adjustments for the fuzzy-modeled dynamics. In this phase, the system’s model is estimated in an adaptive manner, allowing the dynamic equations to be utilized in sliding mode control. Finally, we apply the proposed technique to a quadrotor, presenting simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in controlling a system characterized by unknown nonlinear dynamics.

Optimal adaptive fuzzy fault-tolerant control applied on a quadrotor attitude stabilization based on particle swarm optimization

This article discusses the problem of stabilizing the attitude control of a quadrotor system, which is subject to uncertainty, external disturbances, and sensor and actuator faults. To address these challenges, the control stage employs universal approximators, such as fuzzy systems, which estimate the system’s uncertainties and eliminate nonaffine nonlinear actuator faults. In addition, the particle swarm optimization technique is used to adjust the adaptive parameters and fuzzy initial values. The robust control term is carefully designed to handle approximation errors, time-varying sensors, and external disturbances. To solve the issue of the unavoidable algebraic loop during the actuator approximation phase, a Butterworth low-pass filter is integrated. This approach automatically deals with external disturbances, and no further approximation is necessary. Furthermore, the controller can be reconfigured online to enable fast-fault compensation without requiring a fault detection or isolation unit. To prove the global stability and boundedness of all signals in the closed-loop system, Lyapunov theory is used.

Quadrotor trajectory tracking based on backstepping control and radial basis function neural networks

In this paper we introduce a novel method for solving the trajectory tracking problem for a quadrotor system based on backstepping control and radial basis function (RBF) neural networks. Backstepping controllers in quadrotor control are designed so as to guarantee Lyapunov stability of the closed-loop system based on a dynamic model of the quadrotor, derived using first principles equations. Such a model is prone to modeling errors due to various factors, including uncertainties, time varying quadrotor parameters and external disturbances acting on the vehicle, thus compromising the controller performance. To remedy this situation, we couple the controller with a radial basis function (RBF) neural network trained with the fuzzy means (FM) algorithm, which allows the proposed RBF – backstepping framework to take into account unmodeled dynamics with increased accuracy, thus improving the tracking performance. The resulting method is evaluated on a detailed quadrotor model over trajectories with distinct geometrical characteristics, and compared with a backstepping controller using a different neural network architecture and a standard backstepping control scheme. The proposed control method produces very competitive results, outperforming its rival in terms of trajectory tracking performance.

Joint feedback control and fault diagnosis disambiguation

This paper proposes a model-based diagnosis approach to detect and isolate intermittent faults in complex systems that operate under feedback control. The feedback control attempts to compensate for model uncertainties and deviations from nominal behavior, but these uncertainties are crucial for accurate fault diagnosis. We focus on faults that are observable only in a particular region of the state space, which is rarely reached in nominal behavior. To address this, we present an approach that considers both control requirements and diagnosis uncertainty in an optimization problem similar to model-predictive control. We compute perturbations on control signals that forces the system to reach states where faults are detectable. We apply our approach to a quadrotor system under motion feedback control, demonstrating the effectiveness of our method. Our approach has the potential to improve the resilience of complex systems by quickly detecting and recovering from disruptive events.