PID vs. Backstepping Control for Cooperative Quadrotors Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

Abstract Formation reconfiguration is one of the most important tactics used in the field of cooperative Unmanned Air Vehicles. In this paper, formation reconfiguration for a team of vertical takeoff and landing quadrotors is managed by a classical approach of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. PID controller is designed to regulate the attitude and the altitude for every quadrotor of a cooperative team respecting the separating span and velocity constraints. PID controller results are compared with a backstepping controller developed for the same system. The mathematical model of the propositioned system is derived initially, and then a PID controller using simplex and genetic algorithms is designed qualifying the cooperative quadrotors to track the desired trajectories. Simulation results present the assessment of PID control strategy along with backstepping control strategy in different scenarios including proposal flight mission in obstacle-free surroundings, and obstacle-laden surroundings. Noise attenuation and disturbance rejection are examined for both controllers to check the robustness of the system.