Comparison of Tracking Performance and Robustness of Simplified Models of Multirotor UAV’s Propulsion Unit with CDM and PID Controllers (with anti-windup compensation)

The main aim of this article is to compare two tuning methods, namely CDM (Coefficient Diagram Method) and PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) based on pole placement with five different anti-windup compensators. For three example models, commonly used in multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles, presenting different physical and dynamical properties (e.g. thrusts), authors proposed simplified mathematical models (first-order inertial model with time-delay). First model was obtained by estimation based on MATLAB System Identification Toolbox, second was estimated with graphical method and empirical selection of parameters. Thrust characteristics were recorded on the test stand and used for model parameterization. Tuning methods (CDM algorithm and PID pole placement) are briefly described in further part of this paper in the context of tracking performance and tolerance to parameter uncertainty. The comparison was based on two integral quality indices types: IAE (Integral of Absolute Error) and ISE (Integral of Squared Error).