FPGA-based Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy controller for quadrotor UAV stabilization and trajectory tracking

This study presents the implementation of a fuzzy logic–based control system on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) for a quadrotor autonomous aerial vehicle (UAV). The objective is to design and integrate six Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy controllers to regulate roll, pitch, and yaw angles, along with longitudinal, latitudinal, and altitude movements, thereby stabilizing the UAV and enabling it to follow a desired trajectory. Due to the computational complexity of the six controllers, achieving the desired performance requires considerable processing time, which can adversely affect the quadrotor’s mission. Owing to their high processing power and operating frequency, FPGAs enable the control algorithm to execute at high speed, ensuring enhanced performance and reliability. The controllers were developed in the MATLAB Simulink environment and implemented on a Zedboard development board using the FPGA in-the-loop (FIL) execution mode. To evaluate the impact of fixed-point arithmetic on accuracy and hardware resource utilization, three FIL implementation cases with varying bit ranges were tested for two different trajectory plans. Finally, the results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed control approach and design methodology.