Development of an Autonomous Quadrotor with a Robust Real-time Control: A Review on Modeling, Estimation, Control, and Hardware Aspects

The following report is a comprehensive discussion on the development of a resilient autonomous quadrotor equipped with a robust control mechanism for optimal performance. An introduction to quadrotor modeling and flight dynamics is provided first. The autopilot control and state estimation methods are then described from both software and hardware viewpoints. A review of PX4 autopilot control architecture is provided to comprehend a complete control system integration. It is followed by a survey of commonly used sensors, micro-controllers, actuators, and other hardware peripherals used in academic and commercial grade quadrotors, along with their architectural overview. Next, a brief discussion on the software components essential for a real-time implementation of the developed control system on the hardware is done. Finally, concluding remarks are made on each stage of quadcopter development, and potential research problems are forecasted.