In this paper, the performance of Model-Free Adaptive Control (MFAC) has been investigated on a novel and specific moving-mass controlled (MMC) flying robot system. The novel one-degree-of-freedom (1 DOF) MMC flying robot test bed presented in this paper has highly nonlinear and slow dynamics with a variable center of gravity (CoG) and moment of inertia. This makes the control of this system a challenging problem. One of the solutions to this challenge is the use of data-driven control methods, in particular, MFAC. This controller uses a data-driven model to control the system using only input and output (I/O) data. This paper compares this data-driven controller with proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control, and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) as two model-free and model-based controllers which are widely used controllers in industry. The results of the comparison show that in the various scenarios applied, MFAC has a clear superiority over the PID and LQR, and its adaptive structure gives more freedom of action in the implementation of different scenarios and the presented noise. The results are obtained using the Integral Time Absolute Error (ITAE) criteria and the mean maximum error has also been compared in a Monte Carlo analysis. For a more detailed study, the amount of control energy consumption was also compared, which showed a clear superiority of the MFAC. Also, the robustness of the controller was demonstrated by introducing uncertainty in the plant parameters and by running 100 Monte Carlo simulations with random initial conditions. Finally, despite the PID controller, the MFAC followed the desired scenarios well and compared to LQR consumed less energy. The results demonstrate that the MFAC outperformed the PID and LQR controllers in the presence of random initial conditions and noise in terms of mean maximum error $$(70.4\%)$$( 70.4 % ) , mean ITAE $$(91\%)$$( 91 % ) , and energy consumption $$(46\%)$$( 46 % ) .

This paper introduces an enhancement to the model-free adaptive control (MFAC) method based on a new control input cost function for full-form dynamic linearization (FFDL) for NARMAX systems. The new control cost function includes the one-step-ahead tracking error, OER, and output error integral. The main feature of the approach is that it has a high ability to overcome disturbances in the control input and measured noise in the output. Analytical and extensive simulations have demonstrated that the novel control law exhibits superior response and robustness in comparison to the prototype MFAC. Moreover, it guarantees stability and convergence of the tracking error by enforcing bounded-input bounded-output (BIBO) criteria. In addition, 20 Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to test the initial conditions and random control parameters, and the results demonstrated that the proposed control outperformed the prototype MFAC.

This paper presents an attitude stabilization algorithm for a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Earth-pointing spacecraft using magnetorquers as the only torque actuators and employing Model-Free Adaptive Control (MFAC) as the control algorithm. MFAC is a data-driven control algorithm that relies solely on input–output data from the plant. This paper validates the effectiveness of the proposed approach through numerical simulations in a specific case study. The simulations show that the proposed algorithm drives the spacecraft’s attitude to three-axis stabilization in the orbital frame from arbitrary initial tumbling conditions. The numerical study also shows that the proposed control algorithm outperforms a model-based Proportional–Derivative (PD) control in terms of pointing accuracy at the expense of higher energy consumption.