Full Pose Tracking via Robust Control for Over-Actuated Multirotors

Abstract

This paper presents a robust cascaded control architecture for over-actuated multirotors. It extends the Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) control, combined with structured ℋ<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∞</inf> control—originally proposed for under-actuated multirotors in [12]—to a broader range of multirotor configurations. Furthermore, it reduces the control law’s dependency on the multirotor model compared to the methods in the literature by shifting it to the actuator model, thereby improving the closed-loop robustness to uncertainties. To achieve attitude and position tracking, we employ a weighted least-squares geometric guidance control allocation method, formulated as a quadratic optimization problem, enabling full-pose tracking. The proposed approach effectively addresses key challenges, such as preventing infeasible pose references, enhancing robustness to disturbances, and accounting for the multirotor’s actual physical limitations. Numerical simulations with an over-actuated hexacopter validate the method’s effectiveness, demonstrating its adaptability to diverse mission scenarios and its potential for real-world aerial applications.