Comparison of Control Methods for Trajectory Tracking in Fully Actuated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

In this article, recently proposed control methods, suitable for trajectory tracking in fully actuated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are reviewed and experimentally compared. We specifically focus on multirotor platforms with tiltable propellers, for which the thrust and torque delivered by each rotor can be oriented within the aircraft frame using servo actuators. First, the main assumptions underlying the control design model usually employed in the literature are discussed, pointing out the main limitations. Then, some recent control laws that have been proposed to address the trajectory tracking problem for these platforms are reviewed, placing emphasis on their tracking capabilities as well as on the ease of tuning and implementation. Finally, experimental results obtained by applying three control laws on a tilt-arm quadrotor UAV are shown to evaluate and compare their performance. Two experiments, representative of operating conditions for thrust-vectoring UAVs, have been performed: a set-point tracking with level attitude and a full-pose trajectory tracking task.