Nonlinear control with adaptive control allocation for a quadrotor with tiltable rotors

Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) with hovering capabilities may support rescue forces. To enlarge the area of operation, a quadrotor with tiltable rotors is developed. In contrast to common quadrotors this new type of MAV is able to change its velocity independently of its attitude. To control these vehicles a control method from the field of nonlinear control is required. The control method described in this paper is separated into two parts: The first part connects the input signals from the vehicle to the required forces and torque applied to the vehicle while the second part is a backstepping controller generating desired forces and torque. To connect the input signals of the vehicle and the required forces and torque a method called adaptive dynamic control allocation is used. In this paper the proposed control method and its application to the quadrotor with tiltable rotors is explained in detail. The results demonstrate the performance of the controller.