Unmanned aerial vehicle for observing landslide with iterative feedback tuning

Landslides are common seasonal disasters that often occur in Thailand as a result of continuous heavy rainfall, causing hundreds of deaths and large amount of property damage every year. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are widely used to identify affected areas and gather information such as videos, maps, and locations. This research discusses one specific type of UAV called the quadrotor, which is capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) that is required for navigating in limited operating areas. However, the nonlinear, multi-input, and coupling characteristics of the quadrotor means that conventional control methods like PID may perform poorly under uncertain conditions and disturbances. The controller gains are commonly tuned by trial and error or according to the Routh-Herwitz criterion. Iterative feedback tuning (IFT) is adopted in this research to provide a more flexible and optimized way for tuning PID controllers used for the quadrotor. It is a simple and effective method for controlling a system that performs repetitive tasks and maintaining stability.