A Quadrotor Simulation and Research Platform

Abstract

The quadrotor is an underactuated, nonlinear system that presents significant challenges in both modeling and control design. This work develops a decoupled control framework based on the translational (Newtonian) and rotational (Eulerian) dynamics of the quadrotor. A Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) regulator is implemented for control, with two extended Kalman filters employed for state estimation in the respective dynamic subsystems. The full design process, from dynamic modeling to flight simulation presented in detail. Key elements include nonlinear simulation, model linearization, state-space representation, feedforward compensation, Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) gain tuning, actuator dynamics, sensor noise, LQG design, and extended Kalman filter. The limitations of applying linear control to a nonlinear system are also presented.

Keywords

Quadrotor dynamic modeling / Mechanics and control of quadrotor / Sensor-based quadrotor control / Linear quadratic regulator / Extended kalman filter

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges Lori Leonard, Ronnie Coffman and Richard Cahoon for their assistance and guidance during the preparation of this research at the Dept. of Global Development, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA. Sincere appreciations are extended to the U.S.-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission (US-SLFC), and the Institute of International Education (IIE), USA for the fascilitation of the Fulbright fellowship of the author at Cornell University, USA.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Another public repository (GitHub) download link of the proposed MATLAB code is: https://github.com/Rohan-Munasinghe/QuadrotorLQR.

Funding

This research was conducted as part of the Fulbright professional fellowship funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The author declares that there is no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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