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Automatic Tuning Architecture for the Navigation Control Loops of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Abstract

One of the most time consuming phases in the development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is the tuning of the control algorithms. In this paper the hardware and software suite developed for the self-tuning of the control loops of unmanned flying platforms is presented. The VOLCAN UAV has been used as platform to test and validate the developed architecture. The simplified control system of the VOLCAN UAV is described, together with the Graphical User Interface that allows the rapid automatic tuning of the system by means of Åström and Hägglund’s method. The Hardware in the Loop architecture used to test both the control algorithms and the tuning procedure is presented in the final part of the paper, together with the obtained experimental results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica (DIEEI), Università degli Studi di Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, Catania, Italy

    Antonino Catena, Carmelo Donato Melita & Giovanni Muscato

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  1. Antonino Catena
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  2. Carmelo Donato Melita
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  3. Giovanni Muscato
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Correspondence to Carmelo Donato Melita.

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Catena, A., Melita, C.D. & Muscato, G. Automatic Tuning Architecture for the Navigation Control Loops of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. J Intell Robot Syst 73, 413–427 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-013-9919-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-013-9919-2

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