Robust Observer-based Trajectory Tracking Control for Unmanned Aerial Manipulator

• Published in: International journal of control, automation, and systems Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 616 - 629
• Main Authors: Liang, Jiacheng, Chen, Yanjie, Lai, Ningbin, He, Bingwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bucheon / Seoul Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems and The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers 01.02.2023; Springer Nature B.V; 제어·로봇·시스템학회
• Subjects: Control; Engineering; Manipulators; Mechatronics; Motion control; Regular Papers; Robot arms; Robotics; Robust control; Tracking control; Trajectory control; Unmanned aerial vehicles; 제어계측공학; robust observer-based control framework; separate control strategy; unmanned aerial manipulator (UAM); Onboard active manipulator (OAM)
• ISSN: 1598-6446; 2005-4092
• DOI: 10.1007/s12555-021-0829-y

This paper aims at the stable motion control problem of the unmanned aerial manipulator (UAM) with internal interactions and external environment disturbances, and proposes a robust observer-based trajectory tracking control framework. Considering the large-dimensional nonlinearity and underactuated of UAM dynamics, a separate control scheme is adopted, including a geometric controller for quadrotor UAV and prescribed performance control (PPC) method for onboard active manipulator (OAM). In particular, an observer-based geometric control scheme is developed for the position and attitude tracking of the quadrotor UAV to ensure steady flight, where the quadrotor UAV attitude is represented by the rotation matrix to eliminate singularities or ambiguities. Subsequently, an observer-based PPC method is presented for the OAM to guarantee the prescribed transient and steady-state performance responses. Finally, the simulation comparisons and experimental study validate the effectiveness and performances of the proposed control framework.