Results and comparision between different control algorithms for a quadrotor using ArduPilot framework

Abstract

Determining the most suitable control algorithm for a system is not an easy task. In theory, each controller has its own advantages and disadvantages comparing to the others. However, in the real world, the behavior of the controller also depends on many other factors such as the calculating ability of the control board, the accuracy of the sensors, the way the hardware communicate with the others, etc. In order to find the pros and cons of each control algorithm in the real world, each of them has to be tested and then comparing their results. This article presents a simple way to test the behavior of various control algorithms, with the quadrotor as the control target and ArduPilot is the framework to create the firmware carrying multi controllers. At the end of this article, the results of 3 control algorithms: Original PID of ArduPilot, new developed PID and Integral Backstepping will be presented and compared. These data is created by using Software In The Loop simulation (SITL), a tool provided by ArduPilot to test the new developed firmware.