Experimental model predictive attitude tracking control of a quadrotor helicopter subject to wind-gusts

Accurate navigation and control of unmanned quadrotor helicopters in harsh environmental conditions due to wind disturbances is an open challenge. The aim of the work presented in this article is the design of a Model Predictive Control scheme based on Piecewise Affine (PWA) modeling of an Unmanned quadrotor Helicopter (UqH) in attitude maneuvers. The suggested algorithm is verified in experimental studies in the execution of sudden maneuvers subject to forcible wind disturbances. The UqH manages to reject the induced wind-disturbances while performing accurate attitude tracking.