A decentralized approach for the aerial manipulator robust trajectory tracking

Area of Science:

• Robotics and Control Systems
• Aerospace Engineering
• Mechatronics

Background:

• Unmanned Aerial Manipulators (UAMs) require sophisticated control strategies to manage the complex dynamics between the aerial vehicle and the manipulator.
• Existing methods often struggle with the coupled dynamics and external disturbances like wind gusts.
• Decentralized control offers a promising approach for modularity and robustness in UAM systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate a new decentralized control strategy for UAMs operating in the vertical plane.
• To address the dynamic coupling between the aerial vehicle and the manipulator.
• To enhance robustness against external disturbances such as wind gusts.

Main Methods:

• A two-loop decentralized control architecture is proposed.
• The first loop compensates for the aerial vehicle's influence on the manipulator.
• The second loop employs independent controllers for the aerial vehicle and manipulator, incorporating an estimator for the aerial vehicle's dynamics and disturbance compensation.

Main Results:

• The controller for the aerial vehicle effectively estimates and compensates for the manipulator's dynamic influence.
• The system demonstrates robustness to external wind-gust disturbances.
• Simulation results validate the performance, considering vehicle aerodynamics and manipulator contact forces.

Conclusions:

• The proposed decentralized control strategy is effective for vertical plane UAM operations.
• The two-loop approach successfully decouples the control of the aerial vehicle and manipulator.
• The strategy provides a robust solution for UAMs facing dynamic coupling and external disturbances.