Effect of loss of control effectiveness on an inverted pendulum balanced on a moving quadrotor

This paper investigates the effect of loss of rotor effectiveness on the states of an inverted pendulum mounted at the center of mass of a moving quadrotor. An adaptive Model Predictive Controller is utilized to develop a controller that enables the quadrotor to track a circular trajectory while experiencing varied degrees of loss of actuator effectiveness. Nominal states of the quad-pendulum system on a circular trajectory are determined from the investigated dynamic equilibria. The performance of the developed fault tolerant controller against the pendulum states is compared with LQR performance in numerical simulations. Recommendations to improve performance against the observed errors are highlighted.