Modeling and simulation of quad copter drone using PID controller

Abstract

A quadcopter, also known as a quadrotor, is a type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that features four rotors mounted evenly on crossed arms. These four rotors provide stability and full control in flight, allowing the aircraft to hover, descend, and move in all directions. Quadcopters are used in a wide range of applications, from aerial photography and geographical surveying to search and rescue and infrastructure monitoring. They are characterized by their ease of control and relatively small size compared to traditional aircraft, making them ideal for tasks in tight or hard-to-reach environments. The aircraft operates using a PID (Proportional, Integral, Derivative) control system that helps maintain its stability and balance during flight. However, applying this system requires precise tuning of many parameters to handle the non-linear dynamics of the aircraft, posing a significant challenge in control system design. The aim of this work is to design a mathematical model capable of predicting the behavior of quadrotor drones using a PID controller. The P component relies on current errors, the I component on the accumulation of past errors, and the D component on predicting future errors, following a simple strategy. In this context, we have developed a mathematical model simulating the aircraft's motion using Newton-Euler equations for rigid body dynamics. To simplify the control algorithm, we have made the following assumptions: ignoring the impact of blade flapping and the speed of surrounding fluids. This simplification makes the model flexible and allows for easier design of the controller to be more efficient without requiring complex calculations. In this work, the simulation is implemented using MATLAB