17th IFAC Symposium on System Identification

17th
17th IFAC Symposium on System Identification
17th IFAC
Beijing
17th IFAC
IFAC
Symposium
International
Symposium
Symposium
on
on System
Convention
on System
Identification
SystemCenter
Identification
Identification
Beijing
Beijing International
International Convention
Convention Center
Center
October
Beijing 19-21, 2015.
International
Beijing International Beijing, China
Convention
Convention Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Center
Center
October
October 19-21, 2015.
19-21, 2015. Beijing, China
Beijing, China
October
October 19-21,
19-21, 2015.
2015. Beijing,
Beijing, China
China

ScienceDirect
IFAC-PapersOnLine 48-28 (2015) 122127
Step Response Identification of a
Step Response
Response Identification
Step QuadcopterIdentification of
of a
a
Quadcopter UAV Using
Quadcopter UAV
UAV Using
Using
Frequency-sampling
Frequency-sampling Filters
Filters
Frequency-sampling Filters

Xi
Xi Chen
Chen Liuping Wang
Liuping Wang
Xi
Xi Chen
Xi Chen
Liuping
Chen Liuping Wang
Liuping Wang
Wang


School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, RMIT University,
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, RMIT University,

School
School of
School of Electrical
of Electrical and
and Computer
Melbourne,Victoria
Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Computer 3000,
Engineering,
Australia
Engineering, RMIT
RMIT University,
RMIT University,
University,
Melbourne,Victoria
Melbourne,Victoria
Melbourne,Victoria 3000,
3000,
3000, Australia
Australia
Australia


School
School of
of Electrical
Electrical and
and Computer
Melbourne,Victoria
Computer Engineering,
3000, Australia
Engineering, RMIT
RMIT University,
University,
School
School of
of Electrical and Computer Engineering, RMIT University,

School of Electrical
Electrical and
and Computer
Melbourne,Victoria Engineering,
3000,
Computer Australia
Engineering, RMIT
(e-mail:
RMIT University,
University,
Melbourne,Victoria
Melbourne,Victoria
Melbourne,Victoria 3000,
3000, Australia
Australia
3000, Australia (e-mail:
(e-mail:
Australia (e-mail:
(e-mail:
liuping.wang@rmit.edu.au)
Melbourne,Victoria 3000,
liuping.wang@rmit.edu.au)
liuping.wang@rmit.edu.au)
liuping.wang@rmit.edu.au)
liuping.wang@rmit.edu.au)
Abstract: This
Abstract: This paper
This paper presents
paper presents an
presents an approach
an approach
approach to to identify
identify aaaa quadcopters
to identify quadcopters closed-loop
quadcopters closed-loop
closed-loop stepstep response
step response
response
Abstract:
Abstract:
for
Abstract: This
evaluation of
This paper
control
paper presents
presents an
performance.
an approach
The
approach to
first
to identify
step in
identifythe
a quadcopters
proposed closed-loop
approach
quadcopters is
closed-loop step
data response
acquisition
step response
for
for evaluation
evaluation of
of control
control performance. The first step in the proposed approach is data acquisition
for
for evaluation
using a relay
evaluation
using control performance.
offeedback
control
relay offeedback
a relay feedback
performance.
experiment
performance.
experiment and
The
The first
The
and
and
first
the
first step
step in
step in the
in
second
the second
second
the
step
the proposed
proposed
is step
stepproposed
approach
approach
response
step approach
is step
is data
data acquisition
isestimation
data
response isestimation
acquisition
using
acquisition
estimation using
using
using a
a
frequency
using relay feedback
sampling
a relay feedback experiment
experiment
filters. The and
proposed
experiment the
the
and the second
approach step
step
provides
secondprovides is
is step response
response
engineers
step is engineers with
step response estimation
an intuitive
estimation using
using
way
using
frequency
frequency
frequency sampling
sampling filters.
filters.
sampling evaluate The
The
filters. The
The proposed
proposed
proposed approach
approach
approach provides
provides engineers
engineers with
with an
an intuitive
intuitive
with controller
an intuitive
intuitive way
way
way
to
to more
frequency
more preciously
sampling
preciously filters.
evaluate the
the designed
proposed
designed controllers
approach
controllers and
provides
and to
to obtain
engineers
obtain better
with
better an
controller tuning
way
tuning
to
to more
more preciously
more preciously
parameters.
to To evaluate
evaluate
validate
preciously this
evaluate the
the designed
designed
approach, controllers
controllers
experiments
controllersare and
and to
to obtain
to obtain
andconducted
obtainonbetter
better controller
controller
aa quadcopter tuning
tuning
controllertest-bed
parameters.
parameters.
parameters. To validate
To
To validate
validate this the
this
this
designed
approach,
approach,
approach, experiments
experiments
experiments are
are
are conducted
conducted
conducted onbetter
on
on a
a quadcopter
quadcopter
quadcopter
tuning
test-bed
test-bed
test-bed
and comparisons
parameters. To
and comparisons
comparisons are are made
validate
are made thisbetween
approach,
made between the
between the estimated
experiments
the estimated step
estimated step are response
conducted
step response and
response and on the
and thea step response
quadcopter
the step
step response from
test-bed
response from
from
and
and comparisons
testing.
and are made between the estimated step response and the
comparisons are made between the estimated step response and the step response from step response from
testing.
testing.
testing.
testing.
2015, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Keywords: Step
Step response
response identification,
identification, quadcopter,
quadcopter, frequency-sampling
frequency-sampling filters
filters (FSF),
(FSF), relay
relay
Keywords:
Keywords:
feedback.
Keywords: Step
Step response
response identification,
identification, quadcopter,
quadcopter, frequency-sampling
frequency-sampling filters
filters
Step response identification, quadcopter, frequency-sampling filters (FSF), relay (FSF),
(FSF), relay
relay
feedback.
feedback.
feedback.
feedback.
1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION For these reasons, this paper proposes aa system identifica-
1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION For
For
For these
these
these reasons,
reasons,
reasons, this
this
this paper
paper
paper proposes
proposes
proposes aaa system
system
system identifica-
identifica-
identifica-
1. INTRODUCTION tion
For
tion approach
these
approach reasons,to
to obtain
this
obtain a
paper
a more accurate
proposes
more accurate closed-loop
system
closed-loop step
identifica-
step
tion
tion approach
approach
response
tion approach of the to
to
to obtain
obtain
quadcopter
obtain a
a
a more
more
for
more accurate
accurate
performance
accurate closed-loop
closed-loop
assessment.
closed-loop step
step
step
response
response
response of
of
of the
the
the quadcopter
quadcopter
quadcopter for
for
for performance
performance
performance assessment.
assessment.
assessment.
In recent years quadcopter UAVs have gained more inter- The
The identified
response
identified step
of thestep response
quadcopter
response results
for
results can
performance
can be
be used
used to
to more
assessment.
more
In recent
In recent years
years quadcopter
quadcopter UAVsUAVs have have gained
gained more
more inter-
inter- The
The identified
identified
precisely
The evaluate
identified step
stepthe
step response
response
controller
response results
results
design
results can
canand
can be
be used
be used
obtain
used to more
tobetter
to more
more
In
est
In recent
in
recenta years
significant quadcopter
and
years quadcopter UAVs
expanding
UAVs have have
number gained
of
gained more inter-
applications,
more inter- precisely
precisely evaluate
evaluate the
the controller
controller design
design and
and obtain
obtain better
better
est
est
est in
in a
a significant
significant
in aa significant
significant and
and expanding
expanding
and expanding
expanding number
number
number of
of applications,
applications,
of applications,
applications, precisely
controller
precisely evaluate
tuning
evaluate the
the controller
parameters.
controller design
This system
design and
and obtain
obtain better
identification
better
including
est in
including remote sensing,
and
remote sensing,
sensing, commercial
commercial number aerial
of
aerial surveillance,
surveillance, controller
controller tuning
tuning parameters.
parameters. This
This system
system identification
identification
including
including remote
remote sensing, commercial
commercial aerial
aerial surveillance,
surveillance, controller
approach
controller tuning
consists
tuning of parameters.
two steps,
parameters. This
each
This system
step
system is identification
both simple
identification to
oil, gas
including and mineral
remote exploration
sensing, commercial and production,
aerial trans-
surveillance, approach
approach consists
consists of
of two
two steps,
steps, each
each step is both simple to
oil,
oil,
oil,
port
oil,
gas
gas
gas
and
gas
and
and
and
and
mineral
mineral
mineral
scientific
mineral
exploration
exploration
exploration
research. Many
exploration
and
and
and production,
production,
production,
control
and methods
production,
trans-
trans-
trans-
have
trans-
approach
apply
approach
apply and
and
consists
transparent
consists
transparent
of two
of two in
in
steps,
its
steps,
its each step is both simple to
each
results.
results.
step
step is
is both
both simple
simple to
to
port
port and
and scientific
scientific research.
research. Many
Many control
control methods
methods have
have apply and
apply and
apply transparent
and transparent
transparent in in its
in its results.
its results.
results.
port
been
port and
and scientific
proposed for
scientific research.
the
research. Many
quadcopter control
attitude
Many attitude methods
control
control methods have
prob-
have The first step is data acquisition using the relay feedback
been
been proposed
proposed for
for the
the quadcopter
quadcopter attitude control
control prob-
prob- The
The first
first step is data acquisition using the relay feedback
been
lem,
been
lem,
proposed
such
proposed
lem, such
such as PID
as PID
as PID
for the
for the
and quadcopter
LQ control
and quadcopter
and
attitude
(Bouabdallah
controlattitude
LQ control
LQ (Bouabdallah
(Bouabdallah
control
control et prob-
al.,
etprob-
et al.,
al.,
The
The first step
first
approach
approach
step
of
step
of
is
is data
is data
Astrom
dataand
Astrom
acquisition
acquisition
and Hagglund
acquisition
Hagglund
using
using
(1984),
using
(1984),
the
the
the butrelay
relay
relaywith
but
feedback
feedback
with mod-
feedback
mod-
lem,
2004;
lem, such
Corke,
such as
as PID
2011),
PID and
andMPCLQ
LQ control
control
control (Bouabdallah
(Alexis
(Bouabdallahet al., et
et al.,
2011;
al., approach
approach
ified periodic
approach of
of Astrom
of Astrom
Astrom and Hagglund
and Hagglund
oscillations
and Hagglund
(Wang et (1984),
(1984),
al.,
(1984), 1999).but
butThe
but with mod-
withsecond
with mod-
mod-
2004;
2004;
2004; Corke,
Corke,
Corke, 2011),
2011),
2011), MPC
MPC control
MPCet control
control (Alexis
(Alexis
(Alexis et
et al.,
et al., 2011;
2011;
al., (Raffo
2011; ified
ified periodic
periodic oscillations
oscillations (Wang
(Wang et
et al.,
al., 1999).
1999). The
The second
second
Aswani
2004;
AswaniCorke,et al., 2012;
al., 2011),
et al., Izadi
MPC
2012; Izadi
Izadi al.,
et control2011),
al., 2011),
2011), H
(Alexis
H control
et al.,
control 2011;
(Raffo ified
step
ified periodic
is
periodic oscillations
identification
oscillations of (Wang
the
(Wang et
system
et al.,
al.,step 1999).
1999). The
response
The second
from
second
Aswani
Aswani
et al., et
et al.,
2008), 2012;
2012; Izadi
backstepping et
et al.,
al., 2011),
control H
H
(Madani
control
control
and (Raffo
(Raffo
Benal- step
step
step is
is
is identification
identification
identification of
of
of the
the
the system
system
system step
step
step response
response
response from
from
from
Aswani
et et al., 2012; Izadi et al., 2011), H control
(Raffo the
step experimental
is identificationdata using
of the the frequency-sampling
system step response filter
from
et al.,
et al.,
legue,
et al.,
2008),
2008),
al., 2006)
2008),and
2008),
backstepping
backstepping
backstepping
sliding
backstepping mode
control
control
control
control
control
(Madani
(Madani
(Madani
(Lee
(Madani et
and
and
and
al.,
and
Benal-
Benal-
Benal-
2009).
Benal-
the
the
the
(FSF)
the
experimental
experimental
experimental
approach
experimental
data
data
data
of Wang
data
using
using
using
usinget
the
the
the
al.
frequency-sampling
frequency-sampling
frequency-sampling
(1999).
the(1999).
frequency-sampling filter
filter
filter
filter
legue,
legue, 2006)
2006) and
and sliding
sliding mode
mode control
control (Lee
(Lee et
et al.,
al., 2009).
2009). (FSF)
(FSF) approach of Wang et al.
legue,
However,
legue,
However,
2006)
2006) and
Bouabdallah
and
Bouabdallah
sliding
sliding mode
(2007)
mode
(2007)
control
and
control
and
(Lee
Pounds
(Lee
Pounds
et
et
et
al.,
al.
al.,
al.
2009).
(2010)
2009).
(2010) (FSF) approach
(FSF) approach of
approach of Wang
of Wang et
Wang et al.
et al. (1999).
al. (1999).
(1999).
However,
However,
discussed Bouabdallah
Bouabdallah
that in (2007)
(2007)
practice, and
and
cascaded Pounds
Pounds
PID et
et
control, al.
al. (2010)
(2010)
which is The
The paper
paper is
is organized
organized as
as follows.
follows. Section
Section 22 describes
describes the
the
However,
discussed Bouabdallah
that in (2007)
practice, and
cascaded Pounds
PID et
control, al. (2010)
which is The
The paper
paper is
is organized
organized as
as follows.
follows. Section
Section 2
2 describes
describes the
the
discussed
discussed
the also that
thatmost
the in
in practice,
practice,
widely cascaded
cascaded
used PID
PID control,
quadcopter control,
controlwhich
whichtech-is
is quadcopters
The
quadcopters closed-loop
paper is closed-loop dynamics.
organized asdynamics. Section
follows. Section
Section 3 presents
23describes
presents the
the
discussed
the also that
the in
most practice,
widely cascaded
used PID
quadcopter control,
controlwhichtech-is quadcopters
quadcopters closed-loop dynamics.
closed-loop dynamics.
dynamics. Section
Section 3 presents
3 presents
presents the
the
the also
the also
nique, the
alsoprovides most
the most
most widely used
widely used
comparable usedor quadcopter
quadcopter
even better control
control
performancetech-
tech- theory
theory and
quadcopters
and implementation
closed-loop
implementation of
of quadcopter
Section
quadcopter data
3
data acquisition
the
acquisition
the
nique, the
provides widely
comparable or quadcopter
even better control
performancetech- theory
theory and
and implementation
implementation of
of quadcopter
quadcopter data
data acquisition
acquisition
nique,
nique,
than provides
provides
more complex comparable
comparable
controllersor
or even
even better
better performance
performance using
theory the
and relay feedback
implementation experiment.
of quadcopter Section data 4 describes
acquisition
nique, provides comparable or due
evento its
better simplicity
performance and using
using the
the relay feedback experiment. Section 444 describes
than
than more complex controllers due to
than more complex controllers due to its simplicity and
than more
more
robustness. complex
complex controllers
controllers due
due to
to its
its
its simplicity
simplicity
simplicity and
and
and
using
the
using
the the relay
the relay feedback
relay
identification
identification
feedback
of the
feedback
of the
experiment.
experiment.
system step
experiment.
system step
Section
Section
response
Sectionfrom
response from4 describes
describes
the ex-
describes
the ex-
robustness.
robustness. the
the identification
identification
perimental
the data
identification of
of
using the
the
of thethesystem
system step
step response
response
frequency-sampling
system step response from from
from
filter the
the ex-
ex-
(FSF).
the ex-
robustness.
robustness. perimental data using the frequency-sampling filter (FSF).
To design a quadcopter attitude controller, the attitude perimental
perimental
Section
perimental 5 data
presents
data using
data using
using the frequency-sampling
the frequency-sampling
the frequency-sampling
experimental results of the filter
filter (FSF).
(FSF).
quadcopter
filter (FSF).
To
To design
design a
a quadcopter attitude controller, the attitude Section 5 presents experimental results of the quadcopter
To
To design
dynamics
design is
dynamics a quadcopter
a
is
quadcopter
normally
quadcopter
normally
attitude
attitude
divided
attitude
divided into
into
controller,
controller,
an Euler
controller,
an Euler
the
the
the attitude
attitude
angle sub-
attitude
angle
Section
Section
step 555 presents
response
Section presents
presents experimental
experimental
identification.
experimental results
results
Section
results of
of the
of
66 concludesthe quadcopter
the quadcopter
this
quadcopter pa-
dynamics
dynamics
system
dynamics andis
is normally
is an
normally
angular
normally divided
divided
velocity
divided into
into
into an Euler
an Euler
subsystem,
an angle sub-
angle
Euler where
angle sub-
sub-
PID
sub-
step
step
step
per.
step
response
response
response
response
identification.
identification.
identification.
identification.
Section
Section
Section
Section 6
6
6
concludes
concludes
concludes
concludes
this
this
this
this
pa-
pa-
pa-
pa-
system
system
system and
and
and an
an
an angular
angular
angular velocity
velocity
velocity subsystem,
subsystem,
subsystem, where
where
where PID
PID
PID per.
per.
controllers
system
controllers and are
arean used
used to
angular
to control
velocity
control these
these two
subsystem,
two subsystems
where
subsystems sep-
PID
sep- per.
per.
controllers
controllers
arately.
controllers Stepare
are
are used
used
response
used to
to
to control
control
tests
control these
these
are
these two
two
usually
two subsystems
subsystems
conducted
subsystems sep-
sep-
with
sep-
arately.
arately.
arately. Step
Step
Step response
response
response tests
tests
tests are
are
are usually
usually
usually conducted
conducted
conducted with
with
with 2. QUADCOPTER CLOSED-LOOP DYNAMICS
the
the quadcopter
arately.
quadcopter tethered
Step response
tethered or
tests
or fixed
are on
fixed on a
usually
a stationary
conducted
stationary test-bed
with
test-bed 2. QUADCOPTER CLOSED-LOOP DYNAMICS
the quadcopter
theevaluate
quadcopter tethered
tethered or
or fixed
fixed on
on a stationary
aattitude
stationary test-bed
test-bed 2.
2. QUADCOPTER
2. QUADCOPTER CLOSED-LOOP
QUADCOPTER CLOSED-LOOP DYNAMICS
CLOSED-LOOP DYNAMICS
DYNAMICS
to
the
to quadcopter
evaluate the
the performance
tethered or
performance of
fixed
of the
on
the a stationary
attitude closed-loop
test-bed
closed-loop
to
to
to evaluate
evaluate
systems
evaluate(see the
the
for
the performance
performance
example
performancePoundsof
of
of the
the
et
the attitude
attitude
al. (2006),
attitude closed-loop
closed-loop
Bouabdal-
closed-loop The closed-loop dynamics of a quadcopter are introduced
systems
systems
systems (see
(see
(see for
for
for example
example
example Pounds
Pounds et
et al.
al. (2006),
(2006), Bouabdal-
Bouabdal- The
The closed-loop
closed-loop dynamics
dynamics of
of aaa quadcopter
quadcopter are
are introduced
introduced
lah (2007)
systems
lah (2007) and
(see
and example Pounds
forBayrakceken
Bayrakceken and
Pounds
and
et
et al.
Arisoy
Arisoyal. (2006),
(2013)).
(2006),
(2013)).
Bouabdal-
However,
Bouabdal-
However,
The
first.
The
first.
closed-loop
The
closed-loop
The
dynamics
reference systems
dynamics
reference systems
of
ofused
useda quadcopter
in this
quadcopter
in this
are
paper
are
paper
introduced
are shown
introduced
are shown
lah
lah
the
lah (2007)
(2007)
step
(2007) and
and
responsesBayrakceken
Bayrakceken
obtained
and Bayrakceken and
and
from
and Arisoy
Arisoy
such
Arisoy (2013)).
(2013)).
tests
(2013)). areHowever,
However,
usually
However, first.
first.
in Fig.
first. The
The
1.
The reference
reference
The systems
systems
quadcopters
reference used
used
attitude
systems attitude in
in
used in this this
this
is paper
paper
defined are
are shown
are
with
paper with shown
three
shown
the
the step
step
the step responses
responses
step responses
responses obtained
obtained
obtained from
from
fromcan such
such
such tests
tests are
are usually
are
testsrepresentusually
usually in
in Fig.
Fig.
in Fig. 1.
1. The
The
Fig.angles,
1. The quadcopters
quadcopters
Thenamely
quadcopters attitude
attitude is
is defined
defined
is pitch
defined with three
three
withy-axis,
three
corrupted
the
corrupted by
by disturbance,
obtained
disturbance, which
from
which can hardly
such tests
hardly are
represent the
usually
the Euler
in
Euler 1.
angles, namely roll
quadcopters
roll about
attitude
about x-axis,
is
x-axis, defined
pitch about
with
about three
y-axis,
corrupted
corrupted
actual
corrupted by
by disturbance,
disturbance,
performance
by of
disturbance, thewhich
which can
can
closed-loop
which can hardly
hardly
system
hardly represent
represent
with
represent the
the
the Euler
Euler
and
Euler angles,
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IFAC IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control)
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Copyright IFAC
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2015
2015
IFAC responsibility
2015
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122
of International Federation of Automatic
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10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.12.111
 2015 IFAC SYSID
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Xi Chen et al. / IFAC-PapersOnLine 48-28 (2015) 122127 123
Euler angle closed-loop system
Angular velocity closed-loop system
Euler angle
set point
Euler angle Angular velocity
+ controller + controller
- -
(PI)
Fig. 2. Quadcopter attitude closed-loop control diagram
Fig. 1. Inertial frame and body frame of the quadcopter
about the x-axis only, and the same experimental set-up
can be applied to the other two axes easily.
The block diagram of the quadcopter closed-loop attitude
control system is shown in Fig. 2. The dynamics of
the quadcopter are divided into angular velocity closed-
loop system (inner-loop), and Euler angle closed-loop
system (outer-loop). The inner-loop is controlled by a
proportional controller and the outer-loop is controlled
by a PI controller. Relay feedback experiments will be
conducted on both the quadcopter inner-loop and outer-
loop systems. The aim of these experiments is to obtain
input and output data from the process to perform step
response identification. The identified step response then
provides an intuitive way to evaluate the designed inner-
loop and outer-loop controllers.
3. DATA ACQUISITION USING RELAY FEEDBACK
A simple relay is a nonlinear element that switches be-
tween the levels d and +d based on the error signal e
and generates a square wave input signal u to the process.
In the quadcopter case, the process outputs are corrupted
with noise, hysteresis is added to the relay to reduce the
effect of the noise by preventing the random switches due
to noise, where it produces a dead-zone with its size defined
by the parameter . It is well known that if the width of
the hysteresis  equals zero, then the oscillation frequency
(outer-loop)
(inner-loop)
Angular Euler
velocity angle
Angular velocity
dynamics
(P)
Set point u y
+ Plant
-
Relay
Fig. 3. Data acquisition: multi-frequency relay feedback
system.
corresponds to the cross over frequency of the process un-
der the feedback control Astrom and Hagglund (1984). An
integrator in series to the relay element generates a stable
oscillation with the dominant frequency corresponding to
90 on the Nyquist plot (Astrom and Hagglund, 1984).
A standard relay experiment produces in most cases a
limit cycle dominated by a single frequency. However,
this information may not be sufficient for the estimation
of a step response model because it requires more fre-
quency response information to ensure satisfactory esti-
mation results. The strategy we adopt in the identification
experiment design was introduced in (Wang et al., 1999)
and applied by Wang and Gawthrop (2001) to simulation
studies of continuous time system identification and by
Wang et al. (2004) to estimation of food extruder model.
In this type of experiments, we make use of multiple relay
experiments to generate frequency response information
at several frequencies. The proposed apparatus as shown
in Fig. 3 combines in parallel a relay element with that
connected in series to an integrator. The experiment is
performed by alternating the error signal between the
relay path and the integrator-relay path. The design of
the experiment then reduces to the selection of this trig-
gering sequence. The proposed relay experiment on its own
provides some interesting ideas about how to design input
signals for identification. One of the main benefits of the
apparatus is that the design of an identification experiment
suitable for obtaining a mathematical model has now been
automated. In addition, choice of sampling rate can be set
to near continuous measurement.
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4. STEP RESPONSE IDENTIFICATION USING G(ej0 ) f (k)0
FREQUENCY SAMPLING FILTERS Re(G(ej ))
f (k)1R

Im(G(ej ))
f (k)1I

Assume that a continuous-time system is stable with = .. (k) =

..

transfer function Gc (s). The system is sampled uniformly . .
n1 n1

with an interval t, and the system has a settling time Re(G(e j 2 )) f (k) 2
R
Ts such that when t Ts , the impulse response h(t) 0. n1 n1
Im(G(ej 2 )) f (k)I 2
Then the corresponding discrete parameter to the settling
time Ts is the number of samples to steady-state N =
Ts where
t . The discrete transfer function of the system can be
represented in terms of the frequency response coefficients 1 1 z N
via the Frequency Sampling Filters expression (Wang and f (k)0 = u(k)
N 1 z 1
Cluett, 2000).
f (k)lR = FRl (z)u(k); f (k)lI = FIl (z)u(k)
n1
2

G(z) = G(ejl )H l (z) (1) for l = 1, 2, . . . , n1

2 . This allows us to write the linear
regression with correlated residuals as
l= n1
2

y(k) = (k)T + v(k)

where n is an odd number to represent the number of
frequencies included in the Frequency Sampling Filters (k)
v(k) = (3)
model; is the fundamental sampling frequency defined D(z)
by = 2
N . The lth frequency sampling filter is given as where (k) is a white noise sequence with zero mean and
standard deviation . Given a set of sampled finite amount
1 1 z N of data
H l (z) =
N 1 ejl z 1 {y(1), y(2), y(3), . . . , y(M )}
1
= (1 + ejl z 1 + ... + ej(N 1)l z (N 1) ) {u(1), u(2), u(3), . . . , u(M )}
N
At z = ejl , H l (z) = 1. Equation (1) can also be written in we can obtain an estimate of the Frequency Sampling
1
terms of real and imaginary parts of the discrete frequency Filters model and an estimate of the noise model D(z)
response G(ejl ) (Bitmead and Anderson, 1981). using the generalized Least Squares method (Clarke, 1967;
Soderstrom, 1974). More specifically, in the core estima-
1 1 z N tion algorithm, we let
G(z) = G(ej0 )
N 1 z 1 yD (k) = D(z)y(k); D (k) = D(z)(k)
n1
 2

+ [Re(G(ejl )FRl (z) The estimation of is obtained by minimizing the

l=1 quadratic performance index
+ Im(G(ejl )FIl (z)] (2) M

where FRl (z) and FIl (z) are the lth second order filters J= [yD (k) D (k)]2
given by k=1
M

1 2(1 cos(l)z 1 )(1 z N ) = T [D (k)D (k)T ]
FRl (z) =
N 1 2cos(l)z 1 + z 2 k=1
M

1 2sin(l)z 1 (1 z N ) 2T [D (k)yD (k)] + cons (4)
FIl (z) =
N 1 2cos(l)z 1 + z 2 k=1

D(z) is estimated from the error sequence e(k) = y(k)

The Frequency Sampling Filters model can be regarded
as a hybrid structure between a continuous time system
and a discrete time system when the sampling interval
t is sufficiently small. For the continuous time frequency
t , the continuous time frequency response Gc (j)
jt
G(e ). Therefore, the coefficients of the discrete model
are corresponding to continuous time frequency response
at = 0, 2 4
Ts , Ts , . . . , t .
Suppose that u(k) is the process input, y(k) is the process
output and v(k) is the disturbance signal. The output y(k)
can be expressed in a linear regression form by defining the
parameter vector and the regressor vector as
(k)T , k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , M . The generalized Least Squares
method is based on an iterative procedure and the itera-
tion stops after the estimated parameters converge.
In order to obtain the estimated step response from the
estimated frequency parameter vector , it can be easily
verified (Wang and Cluett, 2000) that the step response of
the system at the sample m is in a linear relation to the
frequency parameter vector via
gm = Q(m)T (5)
where

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m+1 data is shown in Fig. 6. The estimated outer-loop step

N response with confidence bounds using frequency sampling
2Re(S(1, m)) filter model is shown in Fig. 7. From this figure, it is seen

2Im(S(1, m)) that the settling time for the outer-loop control system
..
Q(m) =
.


is approximately 2 second, and due to the nonlinearity
n1 the response is not smooth on the transient dynamics
and the closed-loop response is not oscillatory. There
2Re(S( , m))
2 is no steady-state error in the outer-loop closed-loop
n1
2Im(S( , m)) response. Overall, the control system performance may
2
need improvement on the transient response. The time
1 1ejl(m+1) domain specifications can then be preciously determined.
S(l, m) = 1ejl
, l = 1, 2, . . . , n1
2 .
N Additionally, the measurement noise level is quite low as
it is evident from the relatively tight statistical confidence
5. EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION bound.
0.4

0.2

relay signal
0

0.2

0.4
0 5 10 15
time (s)
(a) Relay signal

0.4
Euler angle (rad)

0.2

Fig. 4. Quadcopter test-bed 0

0.2
The experiment test-bed is shown in Fig. 4. The quad-
copter is fixed on a stationary stand and only able to 0.4
0 5 10 15
rotate about one axis. The relay feedback experiment and time (s)
step response identification are conducted on the quad- (b) Euler angle
copters inner-loop and outer-loop. Normal step response
test results using the same test bed are also given to make Fig. 6. Quadcopter outer-loop relay feedback experiment
comparisons with the estimated step response results. The input and output data
relay is set to switch between 0.3 and 0.3. The hysteresis
is 0.1. The process input and output data collected from
1.5
the experiment are shown in Fig. 6. The sampling interval
Euler angle (rad)

t is 0.01s, and the settling time Ts is 5s roughly. Thus

1
the number of samples to steady-state is estimated as
Ts
N = t = 500.
0.5

5.1 Quadcopter outer-loop step response identification 0

0 1 2 3 4 5
time (s)

Euler angle
Set point Euler angle closed- y Fig. 7. Estimated quadcopter outer-loop step response.
u (Euler angle)
+ loop system Key: solid line estimated step response; dotted lines
-
(outer-loop) 2 confidence bounds

For comparison purpose, a step response without the relay

Fig. 5. Quadcopter outer-loop data acquisition relay feed-
back system
The relay feedback system used for quadcopter outer-
loop data acquisition is shown in Fig. 5. The process to
be identified is the quadcopters outer-loop system. The
process input signal u is a square ware generated by the
relay, which is also the Euler angle set point. The process
output signal y is the Euler angle. The set of experimental
feedback control for the outer-loop system is shown in Fig.
8. Perhaps, one could say that the outer-loop systems
time-domain specifications such as rise time, settling time
could be roughly read off from the figure and used to
evaluate the designed controller. However, if we carefully
compare the positive and the negative step responses in
Fig. 8, it can been seen that the overshoot and settling time
are quite different, which are mainly caused by the distur-
bance on the control signal. As a result, the result obtained
from a normal step response test may not be reliable as it is

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0.4
Euler angle (rad) 0.5
0.2

relay signal
0 0

0.2 0.5

0.4 0 5 10 15 20
0 5 10 15 20
time (s) time (s)
(a) Relay signal
Fig. 8. Quadcopter outer-loop step response. Key: dotted
line set point signal; solid line output signal 4

angular velocity (rad/s)

subject to the disturbance level when conducting the test. 2
In contrast, the estimated step response model achieved
0
using frequency-sampling filters eliminates the effects of
disturbance with the generalized least squares estimation 2
which has modelled the disturbance, which reveals the true
dynamics of the system. 4
0 5 10 15 20
time (s)
(b) Euler angle
5.2 Quadcopter inner-loop step response identification
Fig. 10. Quadcopter inner-loop relay feedback experiment
input and output data
Angular 2
y

angular velocity (rad)

velocity
set point
Angular velocity (Angular
u 1.5
+ closed-loop system velocity)
- 1
(inner-loop)
0.5
0
0.5
0 0.5 1 1.5
time (s)

Fig. 9. Quadcopter inner-loop data acquisition relay feed- Fig. 11. Key: solid line estimated step response; dotted
back system lines 2 confidence bounds
The relay feedback system used for quadcopter inner- 1
loop data acquisition is shown in Fig. 9. The process to
angular velocity (rad/s)

be identified is quadcopters inner-loop system. In this 0.5

experiment, the process input signal u is generated by the
relay, which is also the angular velocity set point. And the 0
process output signal y is the quadcopter angular velocity.
In the inner-loop relay feedback experiment, the relay is set 0.5
to switch between 0.8 and 0.8. The hysteresis is given by
 = 0.2. The sampling interval t is 0.01s, and the settling 1
Ts 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
time Ts is roughly 1.5s. Thus N = t = 150. time (s)

The estimated quadcopter inner-loop step response using
the frequency sampling filter model is shown in Fig. 11.
It is seen from this figure that the closed-loop response is
oscillating, but without steady-state error. The inner-loop
control system has a high gain feedback control, which
perhaps leads to the oscillation. Because the inner-loop
system has an integrator in the plant dynamics, the closed-
loop response has no steady-state error. The statistical
confidence bounds also indicate a good noise to signal ratio
in the experiment.
For comparison purpose, the quadcopters normal inner-
loop step response test is conducted as shown in Fig. 12. It
can been seen from the figure, the step response is seriously
corrupted by disturbances. The step response parameters
such as rise time, overshoot, and settling time can hardly
be determined. The characteristic of under-damped closed-
loop system was masked by the disturbance.
Fig. 12. Quadcopter inner-loop step response. Key: dotted
line set point signal; solid line output signal
6. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented an approach to identify the quad-
copters closed-loop step response for controller perfor-
mance evaluation. The first step in the proposed method is
data acquisition using relay feedback experiment and the
second step is step response identification using frequency
sampling filters with generalized least squares method.
Experiments have been conducted on a quadcopter test-
bed. Comparisons have also been made between the esti-
mated step responses and the normal step response tests
conducted on the same test bed. The results have shown
that the estimated step response gives a clearer and more
intuitive presentation which can be directly used by en-

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October 19-21, 2015. Beijing, China Xi Chen et al. / IFAC-PapersOnLine 48-28 (2015) 122127 127

gineers to evaluate and improve the designed controllers, rotor helicopter. In Proc. of the IFAC World Congress,
while the normal step response results are seriously cor- volume 2008.
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is currently under investigation and will be reported in the matica, 10(6), 617626.
future work. Wang, L. and Cluett, W.R. (2000). From plant data to
process control: Ideas for process identification and PID
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