Robust adaptive control design for quadcopter payload add and drop applications

Payload add or drop occurs commonly in various quadcopter applications. Generally the control parameters of the onboard autopilot or stabilizer are tuned for a particular condition such as no payload or constant payload. Therefore, such mass change may significantly deteriorate the automatic control performance. In our work, a robust adaptive control method is proposed to deal with this challenging issue, aiming at 1) achieving a consistent performance for the altitude control of a quadcopter and 2) enhancing the robustness the system subject to signal noises. Using our custom built quadcopter platform as a case study, we demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed controller in terms of mass estimation, position tracking and velocity tracking via a series of simulations. Its superiority over the benchmark PID control is also highlighted via tracking performance comparison.