Design and implementation of an H∞ controller for a quadrotor helicopter

In this paper, we present a six degree of freedom model of a quadrotor helicopter, onboard electronics, and a networked control system. We follow this with a procedure for designing robust control for quasi hover conditions using Glover-McFarlane loop shaping. The model is presented symbolically as well as numerically for the specific system used in our experiments. In our control design procedure we take steps to minimize potential difficulties of MIMO loop shaping, while still producing effective linear control which is robust to a class of generic uncertainty. Finally, we present both simulation and experimental implementation results and find them in agreement.