Differential evolution-based PID control of a quadrotor system for hovering application

This paper proposes the design of a PID controller for the position and attitude stabilization of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using the differential-evolution (DE) optimization algorithm. The complexities of this underactuated system require tedious manual tuning for various flight configurations and DE offers a quick alternative to this time consuming and rigorous approach. A performance index is defined around stabilizing the attitude whilst reaching the desired altitude in the quickest possible time with minimal power consumption from the actuator. The proposed tuning method improved the performance index by 40% over a range of 100 iterations. The optimized system stabilized its attitude considerably quicker than its counterparts, whilst altitude response achieved a faster rise time with a marginally better settling time. The power consumption was minimized for the DE case as well. The performance of the DE-based PID controller is superior on a holistic level. This highlights the fact that the DE optimization algorithm is an effective tool for tuning the PID controllers' gains.