Nonlinear tracking and landing controller for quadrotor aerial robots

Quadrotor UAVs are one of the most preferred type of small unmanned aerial vehicles because of the very simple mechanical construction and propulsion principle. However, the nonlinear dynamic behavior requires a more advanced stabilizing control and guidance of these vehicles. In addition, the small payload reduces the amount of batteries that can be carried and thus also limits the operating range of the UAV. One possible solution for a range extension is the application of a base station for recharging purpose even during operation. In order to increase the efficiency of the overall system further, a mobile base station will be applied here. However, landing on a moving base station requires autonomous tracking and landing control of the UAV. In this paper, a novel nonlinear autopilot for quadrotor UAVs is extended with a tracking and landing controller to fulfill the required task. First simulation and experimental results underline the performance of this new control approach for the current realization.