Unknown System Dynamics Estimator-Based Anti-Disturbance Attitude Funnel Control for Quadrotors with Experimental Verifications

Abstract

In the article, an unknown system dynamics estimator-based anti-disturbance attitude funnel control technique is considered for quadrotors to ensure tracking performance when experiencing parametric uncertainties and external perturbations. To reinforce the anti-disturbance ability, an unknown system dynamics estimator was established by constructing the filtering operation-based invariant manifold, resulting in a more concise design framework, lower computational consumption and an asymptotic error convergence. Additionally, a funnel control policy was employed to regulate angle-tracking errors within a minor overshoot, a faster convergence time and a lower steady-state error by devising the funnel variables, where an exponential decaying function was used to construct the funnel boundary. The great improvements beyond the available quadrotor control policies are related to satisfied disturbance mitigation and performance guarantees as a priority despite uncertainties. The error arguments comprising of angle and angular rate for quadrotors were ultimately uniformly bounded and the angles controlling the deviations were restricted to the funnel boundary. Finally, the simulations and experiments verified the superiority of the proposed control technique in terms of reduced control actions and higher precision, as well as shorter settling time.