| Abstract: | A hybrid controller is designed and tested in simulation-based experiments, overcoming several research challenges associated with stability and control of UAV flight in a GPS-denied environment, achieving faster more accurate autonomous indoor flight. There exists a need for design and modeling of a robust, innovative flight controller that offer more stable, autonomous flight in challenging indoor environments. Drone drifts caused by air turbulence pose as a significant challenge for autonomous aerial systems that are GPS-denied. A hybrid flight controller, that utilizes PID, PIDD2 and FLC techniques in addition to KF, EKF and Complimentary Error Minimization algorithms, has been developed in a simulation software and validated. Major contributions of the work include: multiple switchable flight modes at the Position and Tracking Controller (PTC) level, and multiple quadcopter flying configuration at the Motor Mixer level. A novel drift correction mechanism utilizes the drone states and an EKF estimator generates a compensation signal with integration of the PTC. FLC adds an extra layer of control by determining the drone’s flight mode and flying configuration for the optimal flight output and stability performance. Contributions of this work may further offer increase in accuracy for connected processes enabling UAV flight, including SLAM, path planning, collision detection and avoidance and, subsequently, overall flight performance.
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