Stability control of a quadcopter fixed to a base

Abstract

The present paper proposes a system based on the usage of Proportional, Integral and Derivative (PID) Control for stabilizing a quadcopter attached to a metal base. A smartphone Graphic User Interface (GUI) was created so the user can adjust manually, or automatically, the three gains that are characteristic of this type of control (proportional, integral and derivative gains). This system is intended to be seen as an educational concept for exploring PID Control. The user can change each of the three PID gain values and observe what are the consequences reflected on the behavior of the system. To test the latter, an attempt of tuning the three gains in order to stabilize the quadcopter was performed. The system reacted as expected, taking into account the theoretical knowledge about each of the PID gains and their influence on the system response. Overall, the final outcome of this work is an educational tool, designed and implemented by students in a compulsory curricular unit, which allows the user to understand how a PID controller works in an intuitive and practical way.