Attitude and Altitude Control Design and Implementation of Quadrotor Using NI myRIO

Abstract

Multi-rotor vehicles have demonstrated great potential in many applications, from goods delivery to military service. Its simple structure has drawn much attention in control research, with various feedback control design methods being tested on it. In this study, a quadrotor is constructed with National Instrument (NI) myRIO for its flight controller. Linear controllers are synthesized with a simple model and with a more detailed model, which also considers the actuator dynamic and system time delay, to exploit the limitations and trade-offs posted by hardware and its influence on linear control design and implementation. The simulation results match the real response better if the detailed model is used in the control design. In addition, the linear–quadratic–Gaussian (LQG) control provides the best response in the control design in this study. The constraints posted by the actuator and time delay are clearly observed in the control synthesis process and the experiment result. These constraints also led to poor control performance or even instability if not considered in the control implementation in advance.