Optimal PD Tracking Control of a Quadcopter Drone Using Adaptive PSO Algorithm

Abstract

Trajectory tracking control for quadcopter drone is a challenging work since the system is multi-input multi-output system, highly non-linear rigid body dynamics and severe cross-coupling. This paper copes that challenges by proposing the adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO) to optimize the gains of proportional-derivative (PD) controller. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is tested under constant and varying step functions as well as sine function. PSO-based optimal PD and Ziegler-Nichols (ZN)-based optimal PD controllers are taken as benchmarks. The results show that the APSO-PD controller produces shorter settling time with no overshoots than the benchmarks under the predefined trajectories.