Optimized Nonlinear Control for Rotor Failure Mitigation Using Quadcopter-To-Tricopter Transition

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are integral to diverse applications, but quadrotor systems face instability when one actuator fails. This study presents an emergency fault-tolerant control strategy for quadrotor UAVs with a failed actuator, transforming the quadrotor into a trirotor configuration. The proposed control allocation method redistributes control effort to the healthy actuators, ensuring stability and mission continuation. This research enhances the resilience of UAV systems, vital for critical missions. It introduces a novel control strategy known as Impulsive Terminal Super Twisting Sliding Mode Controller (ITST-SMC) and Barrier function-based Sliding Mode Control. To enhance controller performance, the Redfox optimization technique is employed to obtain optimal values for controller gains. Utilizing the Lagrange formalism, a nonlinear model of the system is derived, which considers both gyroscopic moments and aerodynamic effects, providing a more accurate portrayal of the system’s behavior. To confirm asymptotic stability, a thorough analysis based on Lyapunov stability principles is performed. The research will evaluate the transient characteristics (e.g., rise time, settling time) and performance indices, including Integral Time Square Error (ITSE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Integral Time Absolute Error (ITAE), Integral Square Error (ISE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), and Integral Absolute Error (IAE). This research contributes valuable insights into the field of UAV control and offers practical solutions for improving the stability of such systems, which are increasingly crucial in modern applications.