Real-Time Implementation of an Adaptive PID Controller for the Quadrotor MAV Embedded Flight Control System

This paper presents the real-time implementation of an altitude-embedded flight controller using proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) control, adaptive PID (APID) control, and adaptive PID control with a fuzzy compensator (APIDFC) for a micro air vehicle (MAV), specifically, for a Parrot Mambo Minidrone. In order to obtain robustness against disturbance, the adaptive mechanism, which was centered on the second-order sliding mode control, was applied to tune the classical parameters of the PID controller of the altitude controller. Additionally, a fuzzy compensator was introduced to diminish the existence of the chattering phenomena triggered by the application of the sliding mode control. Four simulation and experimental scenarios were conducted, which included hovering, as well as sine, square, and trapezium tracking. Moreover, the controller’s resilience was tested at 1.1 m above the ground by adding a mass of about 12.5 g, 15 s after the flight launch. The results demonstrated that all controllers were able to follow the reference altitude, with some spike or overshoot. Although there were slight overshoots in the control effort, the fuzzy compensator reduced the chattering phenomenon by about 6%. Moreover, it was found that in the experiment, the APID and APIDFC controllers consumed 2% and 4% less power, respectively, when compared to the PID controller used to hover the MAV.