Showing papers by "Claude Samson published in 2013"

Introduction to feedback control of underactuated VTOLvehicles: A review of basic control design ideas and principles

Abstract: This article is an introduction to feedback control design for a family of robotic aerial vehicles with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities such as quadrotors, ducted-fan tail-sitters, and helicopters. Potential applications for such devices, like surveillance, monitoring, or mapping, are varied and numerous. For these applications to emerge, motion control algorithms that guarantee a good amount of robustness against state measurement/ estimation errors and unmodeled dynamics like, for example, aerodynamic perturbations, are needed. The feedback control methods considered here range from basic linear control schemes to more elaborate nonlinear control solutions. The modeling of the dynamics of these systems is first recalled and discussed. Then several control algorithms are presented and commented upon in relation to implementation issues and various operating modes encountered in practice, from teleoperated to fully autonomous flight. Particular attention is paid to the incorporation of integral-like control actions, often overlooked in nonlinear control studies despite their practical importance to render the control performance more robust with respect to unmodeled or poorly estimated additive perturbations.

Introduction to Feedback Control of Underactuated VTOL Vehicles

Abstract: This article is an introduction to feedback control design for a family of robotic aerial vehicles with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities such as quadrotors, ducted-fan tail-sitters, and helicopters. Potential applications for such devices, like surveillance, monitoring, or mapping, are varied and numerous. For these applications to emerge, motion control algorithms that guarantee a good amount of robustness against state measurement/ estimation errors and unmodeled dynamics like, for example, aerodynamic perturbations, are needed. The feedback control methods considered here range from basic linear control schemes to more elaborate nonlinear control solutions. The modeling of the dynamics of these systems is first recalled and discussed. Then several control algorithms are presented and commented upon in relation to implementation issues and various operating modes encountered in practice, from teleoperated to fully autonomous flight. Particular attention is paid to the incorporation of integral-like control actions, often overlooked in nonlinear control studies despite their practical importance to render the control performance more robust with respect to unmodeled or poorly estimated additive perturbations.

Nonlinear control of aerial vehicles subjected to aerodynamic forces

Abstract: The paper contributes towards the development of a unified control approach for longitudinal aircraft dynamics. It states conditions that allow to adapt the control strategies developed for orientation-independent external forces to the orientation-dependent case. The control strategy presented here is a step to the automatic monitoring of the flight transitions between hovering and cruising for convertible aerial vehicles.

Control of VTOL Vehicles with Thrust-direction Tilting

Abstract: An approach to the control of a VTOL vehicle equipped with complementary thrust-direction tilting capabilities that nominally yield full actuation of the vehicle's position and attitude is developed. The particularity and difficulty of the control problem are epitomized by the existence of a maximal thrust-tilting angle which forbids complete and decoupled control of the vehicle's position and attitude in all situations. This problem is here addressed via the formalism of primary and secondary objectives and by extending a solution previously derived in the fixed thrust-direction case. The proposed control design is also illustrated by simulation results involving a quadrotor UAV with all propellers axes pointing in the same monitored tilted direction.