Enhancements on a saturated control for stabilizing a quadcopter: adaptive and robustness analysis in the flat output space

TL;DR

This paper improves a saturated control method for quadcopters by introducing adaptive gain tuning and robustness analysis, validated through simulations and experiments to enhance stability and performance.

Contribution

It presents an adaptive gain mechanism for the explicit saturated control in flat output space, improving quadcopter stability and robustness against disturbances.

Findings

Enhanced stability with adaptive gain tuning

Robustness confirmed under additive disturbances

Validated through simulations and real experiments

Abstract

This paper extends our previous study on an explicit saturated control for a quadcopter, which ensures both constraint satisfaction and stability thanks to the linear representation of the system in the flat output space. The novelty here resides in the adaptivity of the controller's gain to enhance the system's performance without exciting its parasitic dynamics and avoid lavishing the input actuation with excessively high gain parameters. Moreover, we provide a thorough robustness analysis of the proposed controller when additive disturbances are affecting the system behavior. Finally, simulation and experimental tests validate the proposed controller.