Path following control performance comparison for an rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicle

This paper presents three guidance control algorithms for the rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV). PID control is the most popular method for path tracking control but it cannot guarantee the tight tracking in complicated path. Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) exhibits an excellent performance for guidance control but the computational burden is a big barrier of its application. Linear model predictive control (LMPC) can relieve the computational problem and guarantees a precise path tracking but it is not straightforward to apply LMPC for guidance control due to the presence of the nonlinear kinematic equations. In this paper, the performance of three path following control algorithms is compared. In addition, a new PID control algorithm which is combined with nonlinear guidance logic is devised. Simulation results show that proposed guidance algorithm exhibits excellent tracking performance in comparison with PID following control method.