Trajectory tracking control of quadrotor under variable payloads with model-free controller and sliding mode control technology

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to deal with the problem of trajectory tracking control for the quadrotor under external environmental disturbance and variable payloads. Design/methodology/approach In the field of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control, external environmental disturbance and internal variable payloads as two major interference factors lead to control performance degradation or even instability, thus a trajectory tracking controller which innovatively combines sliding mode control technology and model-free control technique is proposed. The proposed controller is constructed with a learning rate-based sliding mode controller and an ultra-local model. Based on the proposed controller, the nonlinear system model of variable load quadrotor is locally estimated and the system’s uncertainties and disturbances can be compensated. Findings The simulation and actual test results demonstrate the satisfactory control performance and the robustness of the proposed controller compared with the PID and Backstepping controller under external environmental disturbance and variable payloads. Moreover, the proposed controller solves the trajectory tracking control problem not only when payloads change at the center of gravity but also when the position of load variation deviates from the center of gravity. Practical implications In both military and civilian domains, the quadrotor may encounter such situations that the payloads change, such as transporting goods, aerial refueling and so on. As a large internal interference factor, variable load tends to lead to unstable control. The research results provide theoretical guidance and technical support for trajectory tracking control of quadrotor under variable payloads. Originality/value The proposed controller combines learning rate-based sliding mode controller and model-free control technique to achieve a more efficient and accurate trajectory control of the quadrotor when considering system uncertainties and the load variation that happens in the unknown location.

ASMC and ARSMC Cascaded Controller Design for QUAVs With Time-Varying Load and Unknown Disturbances

“…According to the research results obtained in [37]- [44], the dynamic models of the QUAVs can be described as…”

“…Lemma 1( [44]): considering the attitude subsystem(6) with the upper bounds of unknown disturbances (7) and the designed adaptive laws (20), there exist b ϕi , b θi and b ψi in (7) such that b i0 ≤ 0, b i1 ≤ 0 and b i2 ≤ 0, where b ij (j = 0, 1, 2) are shown in (22).…”

Design of a large aircraft lateral navigation algorithm and simulation

“…The design of the navigation controller is a crucial part of the controllable stability of the horizontal guidance. Due to the strong non-linearity and strong coupling characteristics of civil large aircraft, model-free design method is generally used to design control systems in engineering [4][5][6][7]. In this paper, PID, cascade PID, and cascade fuzzy PID were designed for the navigation controllers and their control effects are compared.…”