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In-Ground-Effect Disturbance-Rejection Altitude Control for Multi-Rotor UAVs

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Abstract

This paper presents a robust altitude control that merges the principles of active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) with the in-ground-effect model (IGE). To this end, a nonlinear extended state observer is designed along the vertical axis, taking attitude and altitude measurements. Then, the forces generated by low-level flight, ground effect and other external disturbances are estimated and used (as an anticipation term) together with a non-linear control law (as a feedback term) to reject them. Closed-loop stability is analyzed in the Lyapunov sense. Extensive numerical simulations and real-time experiments validate the proposal. Thanks to its simplicity, the control algorithm is easy to implement. It can be used for various maneuvers that depend on proximity to the ground, obstacles or surfaces, such as take-off, landing, inspection, surveillance and hovering.

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Data Availability

The data sets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

J. Díaz-Téllez thanks the National Council of Science and Technology, Mexico (CONACYT) for providing financial support through his Ph. D. scholarship.

Funding

This work is part of the French-Mexican TOBACCO project funded by the FORDECYT-PRONACES through the joint SEP-CONACYT-ANUIES-ECOS Nord program (MX-296702 & FR-M18M02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias de la Electrónica, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, 72570, Puebla, Mexico

    Juan Díaz-Téllez & J. Fermi Guerrero-Castellanos

  2. Departamento Eléctrica-Electrónica, TecNM/Institúto Tecnológico de Puebla, Mexico, Puebla, 72220, Puebla, Mexico

    Juan Díaz-Téllez

  3. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Florian Pouthier & Nicolas Marchand

  4. ICube Laboratory, CNRS, INSA, Strasbourg University, 67000, Strasbourg, France

    Florian Pouthier & Sylvain Durand

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  1. Juan Díaz-Téllez
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  2. J. Fermi Guerrero-Castellanos
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  3. Florian Pouthier
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  4. Nicolas Marchand
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  5. Sylvain Durand
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Contributions

Conceptualization: J. Díaz-Téllez and J.F. Guerrero-Castellanos; Methodology: J.F. Guerrero-Castellanos, N. Marchand and S. Durand; Software and analysis: J. Díaz-Téllez and F. Pouthier; Writing - original draft preparation: J. Díaz-Téllez and J.F. Guerrero-Castellanos; Writing - review and editing: N. Marchand, F. Pouthier, S. Durand.

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Correspondence to J. Fermi Guerrero-Castellanos.

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Díaz-Téllez, J., Guerrero-Castellanos, J.F., Pouthier, F. et al. In-Ground-Effect Disturbance-Rejection Altitude Control for Multi-Rotor UAVs. J Intell Robot Syst 109, 27 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-023-01958-4

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