Integral backstepping control for quadrotor helicopters

In this paper, a novel nonlinear control approach is designed for the quadrotor helicopter to achieve the trajectory tracking task in a complex battle field. The 6-DOF dynamic model of the quadrotor is introduced based on the Newton-Euler formula. Considering the characteristic of the quadrotor dynamics, a hierarchical control scheme consisting of a translational subsystem and a rotational subsystem is presented. Then, an integral backstepping (integral BS) control strategy is proposed for both two subsystems. The performance of the control method presented in this paper is demonstrated by the numerical simulations. The results show that the nonlinear control approach has an excellent capability both in tracking accuracy and robustness in the presence of random wind disturbances.