Adaptive control techniques have the potential to address many of the special performance and robustness requirements of flight control for unmanned aerial vehicles. L 1 adaptive control offers potential benefits in terms of performance and robustness. An L 1 adaptive output feedback control design process is presented here in which control parameters are systematically determined based on intuitive desired performance and robustness metrics set by the designer. Flight test results verify the process for an indoor autonomous quadrotor helicopter, demonstrating that designer specifications correspond to the expected physical responses. In flight tests comparing it with the baseline linear controller, the augmented adaptive system shows definite performance and robustness improvements confirming the potential of L 1 adaptive control as a useful tool for autonomous aircraft.

Abstract-This video submission presents a design concept of an autonomous variable-pitch quadrotor with constant motor speed. The main aim of this work is to increase the maneuverability of the quadrotor vehicle concept while largely maintaining its mechanical simplicity. This added maneuverability will allow autonomous agile maneuvers like inverted hover and flip. A custom in lab built quadrotor with onboard attitude stabilization is developed and tested in the ACL's (Aerospace Controls Laboratory) RAVEN (Real-time indoor Autonomous Vehicle test ENvironment). Initial flight results show that the quadrotor is capable of waypoint tracking and hovering both upright and inverted.