Introduction to Feedback Control of Underactuated VTOL Vehicles
Abstract
This article is an introduction to feedback control design for a family of robotic aerial vehicles with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities such as quadrotors, ducted-fan tail-sitters, and helicopters. Potential applications for such devices, like surveillance, monitoring, or mapping, are varied and numerous. For these applications to emerge, motion control algorithms that guarantee a good amount of robustness against state measurement/ estimation errors and unmodeled dynamics like, for example, aerodynamic perturbations, are needed. The feedback control methods considered here range from basic linear control schemes to more elaborate nonlinear control solutions. The modeling of the dynamics of these systems is first recalled and discussed. Then several control algorithms are presented and commented upon in relation to implementation issues and various operating modes encountered in practice, from teleoperated to fully autonomous flight. Particular attention is paid to the incorporation of integral-like control actions, often overlooked in nonlinear control studies despite their practical importance to render the control performance more robust with respect to unmodeled or poorly estimated additive perturbations.
Additional Information
© 2013 IEEE. Date of Current Version: 18 January 2013. Issue Date: Feb. 2013. This work has been supported by the Chaire d'excellence en robotique RTE-UPMCAdditional details
- Eprint ID
- 37113
- DOI
- 10.1109/MCS.2012.2225931
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130225-111724208
- Chaire d'excellence en robotique RTE-UPMC
- Created
-
2013-02-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Other Numbering System Name
- INSPEC Accession Number
- Other Numbering System Identifier
- 13244918