An Almost Globally Stable Tracking Controller for Quadcopters: A Model Predictive Control Approach

Maedeh Izadi; A.T.J.R. Cobbenhagen; Ruben Sommer; A.R.P. Andriën; Erjen Lefeber; W.P.M.H. Heemels

doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2025.11.054

An Almost Globally Stable Tracking Controller for Quadcopters: A Model Predictive Control Approach

Maedeh Izadi (Corresponding author)
, A.T.J.R. Cobbenhagen
, Ruben Sommer
, A.R.P. Andriën
, Erjen Lefeber
, W.P.M.H. Heemels

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

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Abstract

This paper introduces a novel cascade control structure with formal guarantees of uniform almost global asymptotic stability for the state tracking error dynamics of a quadcopter. The proposed approach employs a model predictive control strategy for the outer loop, explicitly addressing the non-zero total thrust constraint. The outer-loop controller generates an acceleration reference, which is then converted into attitude, angular velocity and acceleration references, subsequently tracked by a nonlinear inner-loop controller. A numerical case study validates the proposed scheme, highlighting its ability to track fast trajectories with small error.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	322-327
Number of pages	6
Journal	IFAC-PapersOnLine
Volume	59
Issue number	19
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2025.11.054
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2025
Event	13th IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Control Systems, NOLCOS 2025 - University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland Duration: 23 Jul 2025 → 25 Jul 2025 Conference number: 13

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.

Keywords

Model predictive control
quadcopter
uniform global asymptotic stability

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10.1016/j.ifacol.2025.11.054

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title = "An Almost Globally Stable Tracking Controller for Quadcopters: A Model Predictive Control Approach",

abstract = "This paper introduces a novel cascade control structure with formal guarantees of uniform almost global asymptotic stability for the state tracking error dynamics of a quadcopter. The proposed approach employs a model predictive control strategy for the outer loop, explicitly addressing the non-zero total thrust constraint. The outer-loop controller generates an acceleration reference, which is then converted into attitude, angular velocity and acceleration references, subsequently tracked by a nonlinear inner-loop controller. A numerical case study validates the proposed scheme, highlighting its ability to track fast trajectories with small error.",

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AU - Cobbenhagen, A.T.J.R.

AU - Sommer, Ruben

AU - Andriën, A.R.P.

AU - Lefeber, Erjen

AU - Heemels, W.P.M.H.

N1 - Conference code: 13

PY - 2025/7/1

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N2 - This paper introduces a novel cascade control structure with formal guarantees of uniform almost global asymptotic stability for the state tracking error dynamics of a quadcopter. The proposed approach employs a model predictive control strategy for the outer loop, explicitly addressing the non-zero total thrust constraint. The outer-loop controller generates an acceleration reference, which is then converted into attitude, angular velocity and acceleration references, subsequently tracked by a nonlinear inner-loop controller. A numerical case study validates the proposed scheme, highlighting its ability to track fast trajectories with small error.

AB - This paper introduces a novel cascade control structure with formal guarantees of uniform almost global asymptotic stability for the state tracking error dynamics of a quadcopter. The proposed approach employs a model predictive control strategy for the outer loop, explicitly addressing the non-zero total thrust constraint. The outer-loop controller generates an acceleration reference, which is then converted into attitude, angular velocity and acceleration references, subsequently tracked by a nonlinear inner-loop controller. A numerical case study validates the proposed scheme, highlighting its ability to track fast trajectories with small error.

KW - Model predictive control

KW - quadcopter

KW - uniform global asymptotic stability

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022974424

U2 - 10.1016/j.ifacol.2025.11.054

DO - 10.1016/j.ifacol.2025.11.054

M3 - Conference article

AN - SCOPUS:105022974424

SN - 2405-8971

VL - 59

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JO - IFAC-PapersOnLine

JF - IFAC-PapersOnLine

IS - 19

Y2 - 23 July 2025 through 25 July 2025

ER -

An Almost Globally Stable Tracking Controller for Quadcopters: A Model Predictive Control Approach

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