Robust $\mathcal{H}_\infty$ Controller Design For INDI-Controlled Quadrotor Using Online Parameter Identification

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aantjes, Tom, Blaha, Till M., Theodoulis, Spilios, Smeur, Ewoud J. J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866911654775619584
author Aantjes, Tom
Blaha, Till M.
Theodoulis, Spilios
Smeur, Ewoud J. J.
author_facet Aantjes, Tom
Blaha, Till M.
Theodoulis, Spilios
Smeur, Ewoud J. J.
contents It has recently been shown that all physical parameters of an Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) controller can be estimated onboard a multirotor within half a second, which is fast enough to do the full identification during a throw in the air. However, a robust method to tune outer loop gains for this feedback-linearizing INDI controller depending on the model parameters is still missing. This work presents the design of a robust gain-scheduled controller for attitude control of quadrotor, using an INDI-based inner loop with online identification of its system parameters. A gain-scheduled cascaded attitude controller with a feedforward filter is synthesized for a symmetric quadrotor using signal-based $\mathcal{H}_\infty$ closed-loop shaping. The resulting controller exhibits good stability margins, with nonlinear simulations confirming effective tracking performance under uncertainty. Experimental evaluation is also conducted through flight tests with full online parameter identification. Even though the identified parameters during these tests are far outside the defined uncertainty range, acceptable flight performance comparable to simulation results is maintained for actuator time constants below 40 ms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_05483
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Robust $\mathcal{H}_\infty$ Controller Design For INDI-Controlled Quadrotor Using Online Parameter Identification
Aantjes, Tom
Blaha, Till M.
Theodoulis, Spilios
Smeur, Ewoud J. J.
Robotics
It has recently been shown that all physical parameters of an Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) controller can be estimated onboard a multirotor within half a second, which is fast enough to do the full identification during a throw in the air. However, a robust method to tune outer loop gains for this feedback-linearizing INDI controller depending on the model parameters is still missing. This work presents the design of a robust gain-scheduled controller for attitude control of quadrotor, using an INDI-based inner loop with online identification of its system parameters. A gain-scheduled cascaded attitude controller with a feedforward filter is synthesized for a symmetric quadrotor using signal-based $\mathcal{H}_\infty$ closed-loop shaping. The resulting controller exhibits good stability margins, with nonlinear simulations confirming effective tracking performance under uncertainty. Experimental evaluation is also conducted through flight tests with full online parameter identification. Even though the identified parameters during these tests are far outside the defined uncertainty range, acceptable flight performance comparable to simulation results is maintained for actuator time constants below 40 ms.
title Robust $\mathcal{H}_\infty$ Controller Design For INDI-Controlled Quadrotor Using Online Parameter Identification
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05483