Unmanned aerial vehicle trajectory tracking algorithm comparison

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare the performance of several different UAV trajectory tracking algorithms in normal and abnormal flight conditions to investigate the fault‐tolerant capabilities of a novel immunity‐based adaptive mechanism.Design/methodology/approach – The evaluation of these algorithms is performed using the West Virginia University (WVU) UAV simulation environment. Three types of fixed‐parameter algorithms are considered as well as their adaptive versions obtained by adding an immunity‐based mechanism. The types of control laws investigated are: position proportional, integral, and derivative control, outer‐loop nonlinear dynamic inversion (NLDI), and extended NLDI. Actuator failures on the three channels and increased turbulence conditions are considered for several different flight paths. Specific and global performance metrics are defined based on trajectory tracking errors and control surface activity.Findings – The performance of all of the adaptive contr...