This paper presents a model predictive controller (MPC) structure for solving the path-tracking problem of terrestrial autonomous vehicles. To achieve the desired performance during high-speed driving, the controller architecture considers both the kinematic and the dynamic control in a cascade structure. Our study contains a comparative study between two kinematic linear predictive control strategies: The first strategy is based on the successive linearization concept, and the other strategy combines a local reference frame with an approaching path strategy. Our goal is to search for the strategy that best comprises the performance and hardware-cost criteria. For the dynamic controller, a decentralized predictive controller based on a linearized model of the vehicle is used. Practical experiments obtained using an autonomous ldquoMini-Bajardquo vehicle equipped with an embedded computing system are presented. These results confirm that the proposed MPC structure is the solution that better matches the target criteria.

This paper presents a nonlinear robust control strategy to solve the path tracking problem for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle. The helicopter motion equations is obtained by the Lagrange-Euler formalism. The control structure is performed through a nonlinear H∞ controller to stabilize the rotational movements and a control law based on backstepping approach to track the reference trajectory. Finally, simulations results in presence of aerodynamic moments disturbances and parametric uncertainty is carried out to corroborate the effectiveness and the robustness of the strategy proposed.

This paper proposes a nonlinear robust control strategy to solve the load transportation problem by using a quadrotor UAV along a predefined trajectory. For the present study, the aim is to perform path tracking of the aircraft with load's swing-free, even in the presence of parametric uncertainties and exogenous disturbances. The system is modeled via Euler-Lagrange formulation considering both the dynamics of the quadrotor UAV and the suspended load. A nonlinear ℋ _∞ controller for underactuated mechanical systems is proposed taking into account both actuated DOF due to input-coupling and unactuated ones. Furthermore, an additional control law obtained through the Lyapunov redesign technique is summed to the nonlinear ℋ _∞ controller in order to reduce the load's swing. Simulation results are carried out to corroborate the proposed control strategy.