Guaranteed Cost Attitude Tracking Control for Uncertain Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Under Safety Constraints

In this paper,guaranteed cost attitude tracking con-trol for uncertain quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle(QUAV)under safety constraints is studied.First,an augmented system is constructed by the tracking error system and reference system.This transformation aims to convert the tracking control prob-lem into a stabilization control problem.Then,control barrier function and disturbance attenuation function are designed to characterize the violations of safety constraints and tolerance of uncertain disturbances,and they are incorporated into the reward function as penalty items.Based on the modified reward function,the problem is simplified as the optimal regulation problem of the nominal augmented system,and a new Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation is developed.Finally,critic-only rein-forcement learning algorithm with a concurrent learning tech-nique is employed to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equa-tion and obtain the optimal controller.The proposed algorithm can not only ensure the reward function within an upper bound in the presence of uncertain disturbances,but also enforce safety constraints.The performance of the algorithm is evaluated by the numerical simulation.

Modeling and Backstepping-based Nonlinear Control Strategy for a 6 DOF Quadrotor Helicopter

In this article, a nonlinear model of an underactuated six degrees of freedom （6 DOF） quadrotor helicopter is derived on the basis of the Newton-Euler formalism. The derivation comprises determining equations of the motion of the quadrotor in three dimensions and approximating the actuation forces through the modeling of aerodynamic coefficients and electric motor dynamics. The derived model composed of translational and rotational subsystems is dynamically unstable, so a sequential nonlinear control strategy is used. The control strategy includes feedback linearization coupled with a PD controller for the translational subsystem and a backstepping-based PID nonlinear controller for the rotational subsystem of the quadrotor. The performances of the nonlinear control method are evaluated by nonlinear simulation and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy for the quadrotor helicopter in quasi-stationary flights.

A Novel Robust Attitude Control for Quadrotor Aircraft Subject to Actuator Faults and Wind Gusts

A novel robust fault tolerant controller is developed for the problem of attitude control of a quadrotor aircraft in the presence of actuator faults and wind gusts in this paper.Firstly, a dynamical system of the quadrotor taking into account aerodynamical effects induced by lateral wind and actuator faults is considered using the Newton-Euler approach. Then,based on active disturbance rejection control(ADRC), the fault tolerant controller is proposed to recover faulty system and reject perturbations. The developed controller takes wind gusts,actuator faults and measurement noises as total perturbations which are estimated by improved extended state observer(ESO)and compensated by nonlinear feedback control law. So, the developed robust fault tolerant controller can successfully accomplish the tracking of the desired output values. Finally, some simulation studies are given to illustrate the effectiveness of fault recovery of the proposed scheme and also its ability to attenuate external disturbances that are introduced from environmental causes such as wind gusts and measurement noises.

Nonlinear Intelligent Flight Control for Quadrotor Unmanned Helicopter

Quadrotor unmanned helicopter is a new popular research platform for unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV),thanks to its simple construction,vertical take-off and landing(VTOL)capability.Here a nonlinear intelligent flight control system is developed for quadrotor unmanned helicopter,including trajectory control loop composed of co-controller and state estimator,and attitude control loop composed of brain emotional learning(BEL)intelligent controller.BEL intelligent controller based on mammalian middle brain is characterized as self-learning capability,model-free and robustness.Simulation results of a small quadrotor unmanned helicopter show that the BEL intelligent controller-based flight control system has faster dynamical responses with higher precision than the traditional controller-based system.

Visual Object Tracking and Servoing Control of a Nano-Scale Quadrotor:System,Algorithms,and Experiments

There are two main trends in the development of unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)technologies:miniaturization and intellectualization,in which realizing object tracking capabilities for a nano-scale UAV is one of the most challenging problems.In this paper,we present a visual object tracking and servoing control system utilizing a tailor-made 38 g nano-scale quadrotor.A lightweight visual module is integrated to enable object tracking capabilities,and a micro positioning deck is mounted to provide accurate pose estimation.In order to be robust against object appearance variations,a novel object tracking algorithm,denoted by RMCTer,is proposed,which integrates a powerful short-term tracking module and an efficient long-term processing module.In particular,the long-term processing module can provide additional object information and modify the short-term tracking model in a timely manner.Furthermore,a positionbased visual servoing control method is proposed for the quadrotor,where an adaptive tracking controller is designed by leveraging backstepping and adaptive techniques.Stable and accurate object tracking is achieved even under disturbances.Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the high accuracy and stability of the whole tracking system.

Consensus algorithm for multiple quadrotor systems under fixed and switching topologies

The distributed leadless consensus problem for multiple quadrotor systems under fixed and switching topologies is investigated. The objective is to design protocols achieving consensus for networked quadrotors＇ positions and attitudes. Because the model of a quadrotor is a strong high-order nonlinear coupling system, the approach of feedback linearization is employed to transform the model into a group of four linear subsystems among which there is no coupling. Then, a consensus algorithm is proposed which consists of a local feedback controller and interactions from the finite neighbors under fixed undirected topologies. Especially, the problem of choosing the parameters in the consensus algo-rithm is also addressed, enlightened by the results of the robust control theory. Furthermore, it is proved that the proposed algo-rithm also guarantees the consensus under undirected switching topologies. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the pro- posed algorithm.

Attitude Control of a Quadrotor with Optimized PID Controller

A new approach to control, stabilization and disturbance rejection of attitude subsystem of quadrotor is presented in this article. Analytical method is used to tune conventional structure of PID controller. SISO approach is implemented for control structure to achieve desired objectives. The performance of the designed control structure is evaluated through time domain factors such as overshoot, settling time and integral error index, and robustness. A comparison is done between designed controller and back-step controller applied to main model of quadrotor. The results of simulation show the effectiveness of designed control scheme.

Concrete Defects Inspection and 3D Mapping Using City Flyer Quadrotor Robot

The concrete aging problem has gained more attention in recent years as more bridges and tunnels in the United States lack proper maintenance. Though the Federal Highway Administration requires these public concrete structures to be inspected regularly, on-site manual inspection by human operators is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Conventional inspection approaches for concrete inspection, using RGB imagebased thresholding methods, are not able to determine metric information as well as accurate location information for assessed defects for conditions. To address this challenge, we propose a deep neural network(DNN) based concrete inspection system using a quadrotor flying robot(referred to as City Flyer) mounted with an RGB-D camera. The inspection system introduces several novel modules. Firstly, a visual-inertial fusion approach is introduced to perform camera and robot positioning and structure 3 D metric reconstruction. The reconstructed map is used to retrieve the location and metric information of the defects.Secondly, we introduce a DNN model, namely Ada Net, to detect concrete spalling and cracking, with the capability of maintaining robustness under various distances between the camera and concrete surface. In order to train the model, we craft a new dataset, i.e., the concrete structure spalling and cracking(CSSC)dataset, which is released publicly to the research community.Finally, we introduce a 3 D semantic mapping method using the annotated framework to reconstruct the concrete structure for visualization. We performed comparative studies and demonstrated that our Ada Net can achieve 8.41% higher detection accuracy than Res Nets and VGGs. Moreover, we conducted five field tests, of which three are manual hand-held tests and two are drone-based field tests. These results indicate that our system is capable of performing metric field inspection,and can serve as an effective tool for civil engineers.

Fuzzy Self-adaptive Proportional Integration Differential Control for Attitude Stabilization of Quadrotor UAV

The technology of attitude control for quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) is one of the most important UAVs' research areas.In order to achieve a satisfactory operation in quadrotor UAVs having proportional integration differential(PID) controllers,it is necessary to appropriately adjust the controller coefficients which are dependent on dynamic parameters of the quadrotor UAV and any changes in parameters and conditions could affect desired performance of the controller.In this paper,combining with PID control and fuzzy logic control,a kind of fuzzy self-adaptive PID control algorithm for attitude stabilization of the quadrotor UAV was put forward.Firstly,the nonlinear model of six degrees of freedom(6-DOF) for quadrotor UAV is established.Secondly,for obtaining the attitude of quadrotor,attitude data fusion using complementary filtering is applied to improving the measurement accuracy and dynamic performance.Finally,the attitude stabilization control simulation model of the quadrotor UAV is build,and the self-adaptive fuzzy parameter tuning rules for PID attitude controller are given,so as to realize the online self-tuning of the controller parameters.Simulation results show that comparing with the conventional PID controller,this attitude control algorithm of fuzzy self-adaptive PID has a better dynamic response performance.

Trajectory Tracking of Quadrotor Aerial Robot Using Improved Dynamic Inversion Method

This paper presents trajectory tracking control works concerning quadrotor aerial robot with rigid cross structure. The quadrotor consists of four propellers which are two paired clockwise rotate and anticlockwise rotate. A nonlinear dynamic model of the quadrotor is provided, and a controller based on the improved dynamic inverse is synthesized for the purpose of stabilization and trajectory tracking. The proposed control strategy has been tested in simulation that can balance the deviation of model inaccuracy well.

A Review of Control Algorithms for Autonomous Quadrotors

The quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle is a great platform for control systems research as its nonlinear nature and under-actuated configuration make it ideal to synthesize and analyze control algorithms. After a brief explanation of the system, several algorithms have been analyzed including their advantages and disadvantages: PID, Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), Sliding mode, Backstepping, Feedback linearization, Adaptive, Robust, Optimal, L1, H∞, Fuzzy logic and Artificial neutral networks. The conclusion of this work is a proposal of hybrid systems to be considered as they combine advantages from more than one control philosophy.

Grey Wolf Optimization Based Tuning of Terminal Sliding Mode Controllers for a Quadrotor

The research on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAV)has intensified considerably thanks to the recent growth in the fields of advanced automatic control,artificial intelligence,and miniaturization.In this paper,a Grey Wolf Optimization(GWO)algorithm is proposed and successfully applied to tune all effective parameters of Fast Terminal Sliding Mode(FTSM)controllers for a quadrotor UAV.A full control scheme is first established to deal with the coupled and underactuated dynamics of the drone.Controllers for altitude,attitude,and position dynamics become separately designed and tuned.To work around the repetitive and time-consuming trial-error-based procedures,all FTSM controllers’parameters for only altitude and attitude dynamics are systematically tuned thanks to the proposed GWO metaheuristic.Such a hard and complex tuning task is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem under operational constraints.The performance and robustness of the GWO-based control strategy are compared to those based on homologous metaheuristics and standard terminal sliding mode approaches.Numerical simulations are carried out to show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed GWO-tuned FTSM controllers for the altitude and attitude dynamics’stabilization and tracking.Nonparametric statistical analyses revealed that the GWO algorithm is more competitive with high performance in terms of fastness,non-premature convergence,and research exploration/exploitation capabilities.

Stability Analysis and Structural Parameters Optimization of Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

To increase dynamic stability of the quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles in varying mechanical structure. The qualitative analysis is considered the main methods for analyzing the dynamic stability, while the index of qualitative analysis of the structural stability and the dynamic stability are still hard to establish. Therefore, the process during rolling or pitching is selected for investigating in the present papers, the method of Lyapunov exponent is adopted for establishing the quantification relationship of between structural parameters of quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles and dynamic stability, and its dynamic stability for guiding the design of the vehicle′s mechanical structure and the optimization of its stability control by using the relationship. As compared to its counterpart of Lyapunov′s second method, the main advantage of the concept of Lyapunov exponents is that the methods for calculating the exponent process are constructive which makes the stability analysis of complex nonlinear systems possible.

Wind disturbance rejection control based on the dynamic parameters estimation of quadrotors UAV

The turbulence or gust in quadrotor flight environment causes drastic changes in the unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)aerodynamic parameters.Especially,rotor thrust coefficient and reaction torque coefficient of the UAV encounter uncertainty fluctuation,which may undermine the control performance.A real-time estimation strategy for these aerodynamic parameters is proposed to improve the identification on the disturbance.First,the unscented Kalman filter(UKF)algorithm is used to estimate the UAV states and aerodynamic parameters.Then,a double-loop structure,consisting of position and attitude,is designed for the trajectory tracking control.In the outer loop,a proportional-derivative controller is adopted to carry out position tracking and provide Euler angle references for the inner loop,called attitude controller.Moreover,the attitude controller is designed using an inverse dynamic technique.The main contribution of this study is to propose a joint estimation on the aerodynamic parameters with wind disturbance as well as the UAV states.This strategy plays an important role in refining time-varying parameters of wind disturbance.A number of simulations are executed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Adaptive leader follower control for multiple quadrotors via multiple surfaces control

Based on the multiple surface and fixed undirected communication topology, the adaptive leader follower contrul for multiple quadrotors is discussed. Our approach is based on leader follower architecture. Multiple surface control （MSC） is used to design consensus controller to make multiple quadrotors construct a formation during flying with the presence of uncertainty item caused by the ground effect during landing or taking off. Simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Ziegler-Nichols Customization for Quadrotor Attitude Control under Empty and Full Loading Conditions

An aircraft quadrotor is a complex control system that allows for great flexibility in flight.Controlling multirotor aerial systems such as quadrotors is complex because the variables involved are not always available,known,and accurate.The inclusion of payload changes the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft,making it necessary to adapt the control system for this situation.Among the various control methods that have been investigated,proportional-integralderivative(PID)control offers good results and simplicity of application;however,achieving stability and high performance is challenging,with the most critical task being tuning the controller gains.The Ziegler-Nichols(ZN)theory was used to tune the controller gains for pitch and roll attitude command;however,the performance results were not satisfactory.The response of this system was refined,resulting in an improvement in the reference tracking and the rejection of disturbances.This particular refinement was applied to the quadrotor,and via a reverse calculation,the parameters that allow the tuning of PID gains were obtained,based on ZN.The particularization of the ZN theory applied to a quadrotor with and without a load(termed ZNAQ and ZNAQL,respectively)is proposed and results in a significant improvement in the control system response performance(up to 75%),demonstrating that ZNAQ and ZNAQL are valid for tuning the controller PID gains and are more efficient than the original ZN theory approach.

Path Planning of Quadrotors in a Dynamic Environment Using a Multicriteria Multi-Verse Optimizer

Paths planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)in a dynamic environment is considered a challenging task in autonomous flight control design.In this work,an efficient method based on a Multi-Objective MultiVerse Optimization(MOMVO)algorithm is proposed and successfully applied to solve the path planning problem of quadrotors with moving obstacles.Such a path planning task is formulated as a multicriteria optimization problem under operational constraints.The proposed MOMVO-based planning approach aims to lead the drone to traverse the shortest path from the starting point and the target without collision with moving obstacles.The vehicle moves to the next position from its current one such that the line joining minimizes the total path length and allows aligning its direction towards the goal.To choose the best compromise solution among all the non-dominated Pareto ones obtained for compromise objectives,the modified Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution(TOPSIS)is investigated.A set of homologous metaheuristics such as Multiobjective Salp Swarm Algorithm(MSSA),Multi-Objective Grey Wolf Optimizer(MOGWO),Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization(MOPSO),and Non-Dominated Genetic Algorithm II(NSGAII)is used as a basis for the performance comparison.Demonstrative results and statistical analyses show the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed MOMVO-based planning method.The obtained results are satisfactory and encouraging for future practical implementation of the path planning strategy.

Control Strategy for a Quadrotor Based on a Memetic Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm

This work presents a memetic Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm(SFLA)based tuning approach of an Integral Sliding Mode Controller(ISMC)for a quadrotor type of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAV).Based on the Newton–Euler formalism,a nonlinear dynamic model of the studied quadrotor is firstly established for control design purposes.Since the main parameters of the ISMC design are the gains of the sliding surfaces and signum functions of the switching control law,which are usually selected by repetitive and time-consuming trials-errors based procedures,a constrained optimization problem is formulated for the systematically tuning of these unknown variables.Under time-domain operating constraints,such an optimization-based tuning problem is effectively solved using the proposed SFLA metaheuristic with an empirical comparison to other evolutionary computation-and swarm intelligence-based algorithms such as the Crow Search Algorithm(CSA),Fractional Particle Swarm Optimization Memetic Algorithm(FPSOMA),Ant Bee Colony(ABC)and Harmony Search Algorithm(HSA).Numerical experiments are carried out for various sets of algorithms’parameters to achieve optimal gains of the sliding mode controllers for the altitude and attitude dynamics stabilization.Comparative studies revealed that the SFLA is a competitive and easily implemented algorithm with high performance in terms of robustness and non-premature convergence.Demonstrative results verified that the proposed metaheuristicsbased approach is a promising alternative for the systematic tuning of the effective design parameters in the integral sliding mode control framework.

Decentralized PID neural network control for a quadrotor helicopter subjected to wind disturbance

A decentralized PID neural network(PIDNN) control scheme was proposed to a quadrotor helicopter subjected to wind disturbance. First, the dynamic model that considered the effect of wind disturbance was established via Newton-Euler formalism.For quadrotor helicopter flying at low altitude in actual situation, it was more susceptible to be influenced by the turbulent wind field.Therefore, the turbulent wind field was generated according to Dryden model and taken into consideration as the disturbance source of quadrotor helicopter. Then, a nested loop control approach was proposed for the stabilization and navigation problems of the quadrotor subjected to wind disturbance. A decentralized PIDNN controller was designed for the inner loop to stabilize the attitude angle. A conventional PID controller was used for the outer loop in order to generate the reference path to inner loop. Moreover, the connective weights of the PIDNN were trained on-line by error back-propagation method. Furthermore, the initial connective weights were identified according to the principle of PID control theory and the appropriate learning rate was selected by discrete Lyapunov theory in order to ensure the stability. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate that the controller can effectively resist external wind disturbances, and presents good stability, maneuverability and robustness.