Robust tracking control of a quadrotor helicopter

In this paper, a robust tracking control method for automatic take-off, trajectory tracking, and landing of a quadrotor helicopter is presented. The designed controller includes two parts: a position controller and an attitude controller. The position controller is designed by the static feedback control method to track the desired trajectory of the altitude and produce the desired angles for pitch and roll angles. By combining the proportional-derivative (PD) control method and the robust compensating technique, the attitude controller is designed to track the desired pitch and roll angles and stabilize the yaw angle. It is proven that the attitude tracking error of each channel can converge to the given neighborhood of the origin ultimately. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed control method.