Time-delay compensation using inertial measurement sensors for quadrotor control systems

A new observer-predictor algorithm (OP-A) to estimate the roll and pitch angles in an aerial vehicle is proposed in this paper. The OP-A is based on a Kalman Filter (KF) and a discrete-time predictor. First, the KF estimates the desired states. It is well-known that an inherent delay is introduced during its computation. The predictor improves these measurements counteracting the delay. The algorithm is validated in realtime using gyroscopes and accelerometers of a low-cost Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). These results are compared with the measurements coming from a commercial IMU with good precision and the results show that the proposed scheme improves substantially the angular measurements.