Gain-Scheduling Tracking Control for Quadrotors Under Ground Effects via NTSMC-sLPV

This article is devoted to the tracking control problem of a quadrotor in near-ground tasks, where the aerodynamic force of propellers impaired by ground effects is considered. By combining the altitude-related additional forces caused by ground effects, the dynamic model of the quadrotor in near-ground tasks is formulated, upon which a triple-loop tracking control frame for quadrotor control is carried out, unlike the existing studies that only consider the vertical landing process. According to whether the dynamic model of the loop is coupled, the nonsingular terminal sliding-mode control (NTSMC) and the switched linear parameter varying (sLPV) approaches are utilized for control design, where robustness is discussed since ground effects cannot be measured precisely. The designed NTSMC-sLPV controller schedules the control parameters for both position and attitude control under the measurements of ground effects, which has not been considered before. By typical scenarios for near-ground tasks, including position tracking and attitude adjusting, the effectiveness and advantages of the designed NTSMC-sLPV controllers are demonstrated.