Real-time system identification of quadrotor dynamics

Quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly popular over the last decade. This paper presents a methodology for determining the specific dynamics of a quadrotor UAV using an integral-based system identification technique suitable for use in real-time. This performance of this technique is compared to traditional system identification methods by simulating the trajectory of a quadrotor UAV using the parameters identified by each method. These simulations indicate that the integral-based method provides better system identification in the presence of modest amounts of noise, and is able to accurately track both step inputs and general UAV motion.