Adaptive position tracking of VTOL UAVs

An adaptive position tracking control scheme is proposed for vertical thrust propelled unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) in the presence of external disturbances. As an intermediary step, the system attitude is used to direct the thrust towards the position target. Instrumental in our control design, an extraction method allowing to obtain the desired attitude and thrust from the required force driving the system towards the desired position, is proposed. Finally, the control torque is designed for the overall system to achieve the tracking objective. The proposed controller ensures global asymptotic stability of the overall closed loop system.