Nonlinear trajectory tracking control of a quadrotor vehicle

This paper addresses the problem of steering a quadrotor vehicle along a time-dependent trajectory. The problem is formulated so as to take into account force disturbances acting on the vehicle and enforce bounds on the actuation. The proposed solution consists of a nonlinear adaptive state feedback controller for thrust and torque actuation that i) guarantees asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system in the presence of constant force disturbances and ii) ensures that the actuation does not grow unbounded as a function of the position errors. Simulation results are presented to assess the performance and robustness of the proposed controller.