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Paulo V. G. Simplício
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo 13566-590
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João R. S. Benevides
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo 13566-590
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Marlon A. D. Paiva
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo 13566-590
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Roberto S. Inoue
Department of Computer Sciences, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, São Paulo 13565-905
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Marco H. Terra
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo 13566-590
Keywords:
Disturbance estimation, parametric variations, robust control, trajectory tracking
Abstract
Applications involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have grown over the past decade. With the advent of technology, especially in sensors, batteries, and actuators, using this type of aircraft has proven cheaper than other solutions. However, it is necessary to guarantee safety and robustness in autonomous flight. In this sense, this paper implements a disturbance observer-based control (DOBC) architecture by combining a robust recursive linear-quadratic regulator with two distinct disturbance estimators. In addition, we tested three other controllers widely used in the literature inside the architecture. We perform practical experiments with a commercial quadrotor and analyze the effects of the parametric variations during flight. We compare the flight performance among the implemented controllers and analyze the performance of each of them with each disturbance estimator. The experimental results show the performance improvement of using a robust controller and a DOBC architecture in a system with parametric variations.
