Experimental real-time validation of an attitude nonlinear controller for the quadrotor vehicle

This paper is devoted to the onboard real-time implementation of a nonlinear controller for stabilization of the quadrotor's attitude. The implemented nonlinear controller has been previously published, so that we focus on the details of its onboard implementation. In particular, we address the identification of actuators parameters, the tuning procedure for the control gains and the design of the real time algorithm. By means of pictures taken from videos, in the case of outdoor flight, and attitude measurements from an Optitrack positioning system, in the case of indoor flight; we show the successful experimental implementation on a 1.2 Kg quadrotor vehicle.