Model Reference Adaptive Control of Switched Dynamical Systems with Applications to Aerial Robotics

This paper presents an adaptive control law for unknown nonlinear switched plants that must follow the trajectory of user-defined linear switched reference models. The effectiveness of the proposed control architecture is proven in two alternative frameworks, that is, analyzing Caratheodory and Filippov solutions of discontinuous differential equations. Numerical and experimental data verify the applicability of the theoretical results to problems of practical interest. The proposed numerical simulation involves the design of a model reference adaptive control law to regulate the roll dynamics of a reconfigurable delta-wing aircraft. The proposed flight tests involve an aerial robot tasked with autonomously mounting a camera of unknown inertial properties to a vertical surface.