Intelligent control of miniature holonomic vertical take-off and landing robot

Issue title: Dedicated to Professor Lotfi A. Zadeh and Fifty Years of Fuzzy Logic

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Jaradat, Mohammad A.^{a; b; *} | Al-Fandi, Mohamed^a | Alkhatib, Omar^a | Sardahi, Yousef^a

Affiliations: [a] Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan | [b] Department of Mechanical Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Mohammad A. Jaradat. Tel.: +96 2272 01000-22568; E-mail: majaradat@just.edu.jo

Abstract: This paper discusses the development of a fuzzy based controller for miniaturized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).This controller is designed to control the center-of-gravity (CoG) in a new configuration of coaxial miniaturized flying robot (MFR). The idea is to shift the CoG by controlling two pendulums located in perpendicular directions; each pendulum ends with a small mass. A key feature of this work is that the control algorithm represents the original nonlinear function that describes the dynamics of the proposed system. The controller model incorporates two cascaded subsystems: PD and PI fuzzy logic controllers. These two controllers regulate the attitude and the position of the flying robot, respectively. A model of the proposed controllers has been developed and evaluated in terms of stability and maneuverability. The results show that the presented control system can be used efficiently for the MFR applications.

Keywords: UAV, MFR, VTOL, nonlinear modeling, nonlinear control

DOI: 10.3233/IFS-151721

Journal: Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 1209-1217, 2015