Optimal Energy Guidance for Quadcopter Docking System

This paper proposes a guidance strategy for autonomous docking in a Quadcopter Docking System (QDS). The QDS is a system consisting of asymmetrical quadcopters that are mounted with a rigid docking port structure in the axial plane. The proposed strategy generates fixed-time optimal energy trajectories based on inverse linearized quadcopter dynamics for docking. The quadcopters follow these trajectories using reference-tracking controllers and accomplish docking. Simulations are performed to demonstrate the rendezvous and docking of a quadcopter with the stationary station and the docking of two quadcopters with each other.