Majorant-based control for trajectory tracking of quadrotor UAVs under external disturbances

This paper proposes a majorant-based control method for the trajectory tracking of quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under external disturbances to enhance system robustness and tracking accuracy. Firstly, an extended state observer (ESO) with practically fixed-time convergence characteristics is designed for the position loop to compensate for external disturbances. Secondly, a position loop controller is developed based on the majorant systems to guarantee accurate trajectory tracking for the UAV under disturbances. Furthermore, considering the multi-loop coupling characteristics of the quadrotor system, the design methodologies for the observer and controller are synchronously applied to the attitude loop. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed control method ensures the steady-state error converges to a prescribed range under both significant and minor disturbances, while simultaneously maintaining satisfactory transient performance and straightforward implementation.