Trajectory Tracking of a Quadcopter with an Attached Payload Mass under External Disturbances

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) present the ability to carry different onboard systems, such as sensors, cameras, measurement tools. Especially under unexpected scenarios, such as the pandemic, the need for a cheap, fast and feasible solution makes the quadcopter a promising opportunity to overcome these challenges. Also, depending on the required mission, quadcopters ensures not only follow the desired trajectory but also guarantee the stability of their components. A robust controller is required to maintain the quadcopter in its initial path even under external disturbances as well as not inferring the quality of the measurement responses. In this context, the present article introduces the performance analysis of three controllers designed for a quadcopter carrying a payload under external disturbances. The results show that the second-order Sliding Mode Controller (SO-SMC) exhibits a more robust response against external disturbances and trajectory adherence in comparison to the First-Order SMC (FO-SMC) and Proportional Integral Derivative (PID).