Geometric path following control for multirotor vehicles using nonlinear model predictive control and 3D spline paths

Philipp Niermeyer, Venkata S. Akkinapalli, Mikhail Pak, Florian Holzapfel, Boris Lohmann

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is strong interest in Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) control architectures which are able to systematically respect physical limitations of the plant. Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) inherits the required constraint handling abilities and is easy to reconfigure in case of plant degradation. This work presents a promising cascaded control architecture for multirotors for the task to follow a geometric path. In contrast to existing NMPC implementations for path following, three times continuously differentiable reference trajectories are required due to the underactuated nature of multirotor vehicles. This is achieved by defining a path by a quartic spline and employ fourth order path dynamics. The proposed controller considers the dynamics of the inner acceleration loop explicitly so that the assumption of time-scale separation between the controller cascades can be dropped. The presented implementation allows for online adaptation of plant and control parameters as a first step towards application in a fault-tolerant setup. High fidelity simulation results demonstrate the favorable performance. Due to the observed runtimes well below a tenth of the sample rate, deployability to the onboard embedded computer can be expected.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2016 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2016
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages126-134
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9781467393331
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 Jun 2016
Event2016 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2016 - Arlington, United States
Duration: 7 Jun 201610 Jun 2016

Publication series

Name2016 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2016

Conference

Conference2016 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityArlington
Period7/06/1610/06/16

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