Development of a Test-bed for Closed-loop MAV Flight Control

Abstract

A novel ground based test-bed for closed loop flight control of MAVs is developed. The emphasis is on easy re-programability, measurement of internal states of the vehicle, fail-safe features, and modular design so that control algorithms can be efficiently evaluated on a real MAV in flight. The sensors transmit data to the ground station using a wireless link. All processing is carried out on the ground station, and the final commands are up-linked back to the MAV. Starting with the early experiments on yaw-control, this report presents the results for the 3-DOF attitude control experiments done on an MAV using this test-bed. Three independent PID control loops are used to implement automation. Ziegler-Nichols method is used for tuning the PID controller gains. Simple proportional controllers in pitch and roll are shown to give good performance. The roll and pitch attitudes are maintained within $\pm$0.1 radians by the controller.