Robust Backstepping Control Applied to UAVs for Pest Recognition in Maize Crops

Abstract

In this paper, a robust control technique is developed to achieve the quadrotor stabilization against unmodeled matching vanishing dynamics. The synthesis of the proposed robust control is based on the Lyapunov approach and the backstepping method allowing to construct an iterative control algorithm. To compare the performance of the proposed controller, a Proportional Derivative (PD) controller is used to obtain experimental results in an outdoor environment. To compare the closed-loop system responses with both controllers, the Integral Absolute Error is computed and several tests are conducted to calculate the error standard deviation. Ultimately, employing the robust backstepping control approach in pest recognition in maize crops, which is a specific task of precision agriculture, demonstrates its effectiveness in improving the trajectory tracking of the vehicle while it captures images of the crops.

An optimal hybrid quadcopter control technique with MPC-based backstepping

“…Research in the engineering field pertaining to designing and manufacturing of either remotely operated or fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), particularly quadcopter models [1,2], has been the subject of considerable attention and emphasis in the area of embedded control systems. Due to their configuration [3], quadcopters are widely used to perform tasks in a wide range of applications that include military [4], parcel delivery [5,6], conveyance of medical samples [7], mapping [8,9], monitoring [10], precision agriculture [11,12] and greenhouses [10]. As established in [3], quadcopters have been widely studied and applied as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) due to their simplified mechanical structure, enhanced closed-loop equilibrium compared to alternative designs, and substantial flexibility in both indoor and outdoor environments.…”

“…Literature reviews such as [14][15][16][17] present a thorough evaluation of the essential state-of-the-art control techniques which could be efficiently employed to quadcopters, such as Backstepping control (BC), MPC, Sliding Mode Control (SMC), Linear-Quadratic Regulator (LQR), H-infinity, Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID), Adaptive control, Fuzzy logic and Neural Network control, Feedback Linearization (FL) control. Since the quadcopter is a nonlinear system, a few nonlinear control methods have obtained good results in trajectory tracking difficulties such as sliding mode control, nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC), backstepping control design and state feedback linearization control as seen in [12,[18][19][20]. The term "model-based predictive control" (MPC) implies a class of sophisticated control methods that forecast the behavior of the system being controlled using a process model [21] and can even control systems that conventional feedback controllers are unable to control.…”

“…This improved tracking performance and robustness. Also, in [12], a robust control technique was developed depending on the Lyapunov strategy, and the backstepping approach to attain quadcopter stability against unmodeled matching disintegrating dynamics and the robust backstepping control was observed to demonstrate its efficiency in enhancing the vehicle trajectory tracking as it captures the crop images. [30] developed a new control method for an autonomous quadrotor helicopter, utilizing the combination of fuzzy logic and backstepping sliding mode control.…”

Based on Backpropagation Neural Network and Adaptive Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control for Attitude of a Quadrotor Carrying a Load

“…However, many scholars still try to use modern control methods to improve the control performance of quadrotor controllers, such as predictive control [5,6], sliding film control [7], LQR [8,9] and so on. Based on backstepping control and Lyapunov theory, research by Rodríguez et al [10] presented a robust control algorithm in order to increase the endurance time of the quadrotor and reduce unnecessary energy dissipation. Research by Nigro et al [11] presented a new type of quadrotor aircraft by adding a driving gimbal mechanism to provide multi-directional thrust.…”