Convergence and Robustness Analysis of Novel Adaptive Multilayer Neural Dynamics-Based Controllers of Multirotor UAVs

Because of the simple structure and strong flexibility, multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted considerable attention among scientific researches and engineering fields during the past decades. In this paper, a novel adaptive multilayer neural dynamic (AMND)-based controllers design method is proposed for designing the attitude angle (the roll angle Ψ, the pitch angle θ, and the yaw angle ψ), height ( z), and position ( x and y) controllers of a general multirotor UAV model. Global convergence and strong robustness of the proposed AMND-based method and controllers are analyzed and proved theoretically. By incorporating the adaptive control method into the general multilayer neural dynamic-based controllers design method, multirotor UAVs with unknown disturbances can complete time-varying trajectory tracking tasks. AMND-based controllers with the self-tuning rates can estimate the unknown disturbances and solve the model uncertainty problems. Both the theoretical theorems and simulation results illustrate that the proposed design method and its controllers with strong anti-interference property can achieve the time-varying trajectory tracking control stably, reliably, and effectively. Moreover, a practical experiment by using a mini multirotor UAV illustrates the practicability of the AMND-based method.