Robust Active Force Control of A Quadcopter

Authors

  • Mustakim Omar Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor
  • Musa Mailah Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor
  • Sherif I. Abdelmaksoud Department of Aerospace Engineering King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals PO Box #526, Dhahran 31261, Eastern Province

Keywords:

Quadcopter, PID AFC scheme, robust, altitude and yaw control, disturbances

Abstract

Outdoor quadrotor helicopter quadcopter operation needs a robust control system in controlling its attitude and altitude to cater for various unmodeled disturbances and uncertainties. Although many control techniques have been tested and applied in quadrotor control systems, the active force control (AFC) scheme has yet to be implemented and investigated. The AFC strategy works via the appropriate manipulation of specific parameters of interest, namely, the estimated mass moment of inertia, measured torque and measured acceleration produced by the system. In this paper, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) with AFC (PID+AFC) strategy was successfully implemented in altitude (Z-axis) and yaw control of a quadcopter system via simulation. The PID+AFC controller performance was benchmarked with the conventional PID control considering different operation flight paths subject to various forms of disturbances. Simulation results showed that the PID+AFC scheme has significantly improved the altitude control where the steady state error can be reduced up to 70%, particularly with the presence of Z-axis disturbance. The proposed scheme also reacts faster and maintains the quadcopter hovering stability state condition. A slight improvement in yaw control with the application of PID+AFC approach was also observed in comparison to the PID only control.

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Published

2019-05-15

How to Cite

Omar, M., Mailah, M., & Abdelmaksoud, S. I. (2019). Robust Active Force Control of A Quadcopter. Jurnal Mekanikal, 40(2). Retrieved from https://jurnalmekanikal.utm.my/index.php/jurnalmekanikal/article/view/350

Issue

Section

Mechanical

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