Experimental Constrained Optimal Attitude Control of a Quadrotor Subject to Wind Disturbances

The design and experimental verification of a Constrained Finite Time Optimal Controller (CFTOC) for attitude maneuvers of an Unmanned Quadrotor operating under severe wind conditions is the subject of this article. The quadrotor's nonlinear dynamics are linearized in various operating points resulting in a set of piecewise affine models. The CFTO-controller is designed for set-point maneuvers taking into account the switching between the linear models and the state and actuation constraints. The control scheme is applied on experimental studies on a prototype quadrotor operating both in absence and under presence of forcible atmospheric disturbances. Extended experimental results indicate that the proposed control approach attenuates the effects of induced wind-gusts while performing accurate attitude set-point maneuvers.