Wind estimation using the position information from a hovering quadrotor

In this paper, an approach to estimating the wind at a fixed place is proposed by using the observed position information of a hovering quadrotor. The aerodynamic characteristics of the propeller are firstly analyzed to establish the quadrotor model in a windy environment. Then, a PID method is adopted to maintain the stable hovering flight. Next, according to the hovering state equations, the wind estimating algorithm can be obtained by decomposing three-dimensional kinematics equations into two parts, one is the motion caused by wind, and another is the motion to keep itself hovering at a fixed point. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is proved with the MATLAB/Simulink simulation.