Control-oriented modeling and hierarchical control of multirotor UAVs for research and teaching purposes

This paper presents a comprehensive modeling and control approach to enable an effective use of multirotor UAVs in both research and educational settings. The main focus lies in the development of a simple yet sufficiently accurate mathematical model capturing the essential features inherent in multirotor UAV dynamics. Special attention is devoted to modeling uncertainties to facilitate the design of robust and adaptive control strategies. A hierarchical control framework is proposed to streamline the design, tuning, and implementation of various control laws, thereby enhancing the ease of use and versatility of the UAV systems. Experimental activities conducted as part of a master-level course on adaptive control at Politecnico di Milano serve to validate the proposed modeling and control strategies. These activities offer students hands-on experience in implemeting and fine-tuning control algorithms on real multirotor UAV platforms, thereby briding the gap between theoretical concepts and practical applications.