Event-Triggered Trajectory Tracking Control for Quadrotor UAVs Subject to External Disturbances

Abstract

This article investigates the trajectory tracking control problem for quadrotor UAVs using the dynamic event-triggered control approach. Unlike existing results, the dynamic event-triggered control strategy proposed in this work ensures that the trajectory tracking error of quadrotor UAVs converges to zero asymptotically for a class of external disturbances. Specifically, an event-triggered mechanism is introduced in the position loop to reduce the resource transmission consumption. To address the non-differentiable nature of the event-triggered signal, a fourth-order linear system model for the position loop is derived, ensuring the existence of a twice-differentiable acceleration reference which is essential for the attitude loop. Subsequently, based on the internal model principle, we develop a class of dynamic event-triggered control strategies with dynamic triggering mechanisms. Furthermore, to handle the challenges posed by the unknown parameters and external perturbations within the attitude-loop subsystem, a robust adaptive dynamic control law is implemented based on the attitude rotation matrix. Rigorous Lyapunov analysis demonstrates that the overall control approach ensures asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system. Finally, we verify the effectiveness and robustness of the controller through numerical simulations.