Mini Quadrotor UAV: Design and Experiment
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 25, Issue 4
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to design a new layout for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for experimental customized control-system validation. Geometrical and structural properties have been computed, and commercial off-the-shelf equipment has been selected. The flight control system, both hardware and software, has been custom developed; the same applies for the mathematical model describing the flight dynamics. Two proportional-derivative (PD) controllers have been designed and experimentally tested. A different control strategy with a state feedback controller has been implemented, assigning a robust eigenstructure and the desired dynamic specifications. An adaptive algorithm, which guarantees a uniformly bounded response for both the inputs and the outputs, has been presented. An L1 adaptive controller has been studied and implemented, including the state predictor and the adaptive and control laws. Tests with the PD controller have shown slowly stable response even in the event of numerical and vibrational noise. In conclusion, the L1 adaptive controller permits one to obtain optimal response characteristics, and the low-pass filter integrated in control law, combined with a Kalman filter, can reduce noise and correlate data between different sensors.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Professor Naira Hovakimyan and her group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for sharing experience and knowledge on the L1 controller theory and implementation.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 25 • Issue 4 • October 2012
Pages: 559 - 573
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 18, 2011
Accepted: Sep 30, 2011
Published online: Sep 14, 2012
Published in print: Oct 1, 2012
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