Robust control of quadrotor unmanned air vehicles

A robust control approach for a quadrotor helicopter is presented. The controller consists of two parts: an attitude controller and a position controller. The attitude controller is designed based on linear control combined with robust compensation. The linear controller is designed for the nominal system to achieve desired nominal performances, while the robust compensator is applied to restrain the effects of uncertainties and external disturbances. The position controller was realized with classical PD method. Experimental results on the Tsinghua Autonomous Quadrotor System (TAQS) which is developed in our laboratory demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed controller.