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ScienceDirect
IFAC PapersOnLine 55-1 (2022) 752–757
Design
Design and
and Test
Test of
of a
a Controller
Controller for
for the
the
Design
Design and
and Test
Test
Pluto of
of
1.2 a
a Controller
Controller
Quadcopter for
for the
the
Design and Test
Pluto
Pluto of
1.2 a Controller
Quadcopter for the
Pluto 1.2
1.2 Quadcopter
Quadcopter
Nitika Pluto 1.2
∗ Quadcopter ∗∗
Nitika Jaggi Jaggi ∗∗ Dr. Dr. Koena Koena Mukherjee
Mukherjee
∗∗∗
∗∗
∗∗
Nitika
Nitika Jaggi
Dr.
Jaggi ∗ Dr. Koena
Munmun
∗ Dr. KoenaKhanra Mukherjee
Mukherjee
∗∗∗ ∗∗
∗∗
Nitika Dr.
Jaggi Munmun
∗ Dr. KoenaKhanra Mukherjee
∗∗∗ ∗∗
Nitika Dr. Jaggi
Dr. Munmun
Munmun Dr. KoenaKhanra
Khanra Mukherjee
∗∗∗
∗∗∗
∗ Dr. Munmun
Dr. Institute
Munmun Khanra ∗∗∗
Khanra Silchar
∗ National of Technology
∗ National Institute of Technology Silchar
∗ National
∗ (e-mail: Institute
National
(e-mail: Institute of
of Technology
nitika.jaggi19@gmail.com).
Technology
nitika.jaggi19@gmail.com).
Silchar
Silchar
∗ National
∗∗ (e-mail: Institute of Technology
nitika.jaggi19@gmail.com). Silchar
National
National Institute
Institute
∗∗ (e-mail: nitika.jaggi19@gmail.com).
National Institute of
of
of Technology
Technology
Technology Silchar
Silchar
Silchar
∗∗ (e-mail: nitika.jaggi19@gmail.com).
∗∗ National
(e-mail:
(e-mail:
∗∗ National Institute of Technology
koena@ei.nits.ac.in)
nitika.jaggi19@gmail.com).
Institute of Technology Silchar
Silchar
∗∗∗
∗∗ (e-mail:
National koena@ei.nits.ac.in)
Institute of Technology Silchar
∗∗∗National (e-mail:
National koena@ei.nits.ac.in)
Institute
Institute of
of Technology Silchar
∗∗∗ National
(e-mail:
(e-mail: Institute of Technology Silchar
Technology
koena@ei.nits.ac.in)
koena@ei.nits.ac.in) Silchar
∗∗∗ National
∗∗∗ (e-mail:
(e-mail:
National Institute
(e-mail:Institute
of Technology
munmun@ei.nits.ac.in)
koena@ei.nits.ac.in)
Institute of Technology
munmun@ei.nits.ac.in)
Silchar
Silchar
∗∗∗ National
(e-mail: of Technology
munmun@ei.nits.ac.in) Silchar
National
(e-mail: Institute of Technology
munmun@ei.nits.ac.in) Silchar
(e-mail: munmun@ei.nits.ac.in)
(e-mail: munmun@ei.nits.ac.in)
Abstract: Quadcopters are being utilized in varying applications like product delivery and
Abstract:
Abstract: Quadcopters
Quadcopters are
are being
being utilized
utilized in
in varying
varying applications
applications like
like product
product delivery
delivery and
and
surveillance.
Abstract: The
The controllers
surveillance.Quadcopters controllers are designed
being
designed must
must be
utilized bein tested
varying
tested extensively
applications
extensively in
in both
like
both simulations
product
simulations and
and flight
delivery and
flight
Abstract:
surveillance.
tests
Abstract:before Quadcopters
The
being controllers
Quadcopters deployed are
are being
designed
on
being the utilized
must
actual
utilized bein varying
tested
system.
in varying Thisapplications
extensively
paper
applications in like
both
presents
like product
simulations
a delivery
Proportional
product and
delivery and
flight
plus
and
surveillance.
tests before
surveillance. The
being
The controllers
deployed
controllers designed
on the
designed must
actual
must be
be tested
system.
tested extensively
This paper
extensively in both
presents
in both simulations
a Proportional
simulations and
and flight
plus
flight
tests before(PD)
Derivative
surveillance.
tests before beingbased
The
being deployed
Cascade
controllers
deployed on thethe
designed
on actual
controlmust
actual algorithm
besystem.
system. This
testedtoThisallow paper
extensively
paperthe inpresents
quadcopter a Proportional
Proportional
both simulations
presents a to go toand plus
itsflight
goal
plus
Derivative
tests before (PD)
being based Cascade
deployed control algorithm toThis
allow the quadcopter to go to its goal
Derivative
location.
tests The
before
Derivative (PD)whole
being
(PD) based Cascade
control
deployed
based Cascade isonsplit
on the
the actual
control
into
actual
control algorithm
four system.
system. to
subsystems-
algorithm to allow
This one
allow
paper
to
paperthe
the
presents
control
presents eachaa output.
quadcopter
quadcopter
Proportional
to
to go
go to its
Simulation
Proportionalto its
plus
goal
plus
goal
location.
Derivative
location. The
The (PD)whole
whole control
based Cascade
control is
is split
split into
control
into four
four subsystems-
algorithm
subsystems-to one
allow
one to
tothecontrol each
quadcopter
control each output.
to
output. go Simulation
to its
Simulation goal
results
Derivative
location.
results of
of the
The
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Cascade
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are presentedis splitto
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into algorithm
four
validate the proposed
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Copyrightcommunity.
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community. Pluto
The 1.2 is a
Authors.a novel
novel one and,
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an open
therefore,
therefore, a contribution
articleaunder
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robotics community.
community.
(https://creativecommons.org
Keywords: Quadcopter, PD /licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
control, Cascade control, Pluto 1.2, Vision based navigation,
Keywords:
Keywords: Quadcopter,
Quadcopter, PD
PD control,
control, Cascade
Cascade control,
control, Pluto
Pluto 1.2,
1.2, Vision
Vision based
based navigation,
navigation,
ArUco,
Keywords:
ArUco, WiFi,
WiFi, Multiwii
Quadcopter,
Multiwii Serial
PD
Serial Protocol.
control,
Protocol. Cascade control, Pluto 1.2, Vision based navigation,
Keywords:
ArUco,
Keywords: WiFi, Quadcopter,
Multiwii
Quadcopter, PD
Serial
PD control,
Protocol.
control, Cascade
Cascade control,
control, Pluto
Pluto 1.2,
1.2, Vision
Vision based
based navigation,
navigation,
ArUco,
ArUco, WiFi,
WiFi, Multiwii
Multiwii Serial
Serial Protocol.
Protocol.
ArUco,1.WiFi, Multiwii Serial Protocol.
INTRODUCTION of
1. INTRODUCTION of backstepping
backstepping to to control
control aa quadcopter.
quadcopter. It It uses
uses PD PD control
control
1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION of
for
of backstepping
attitude
backstepping to
to control
stabilisation
control aa well
as quadcopter.
as position
quadcopter. It
It uses
control.
uses PD
PD control
Özbek
control
Quadcopters are being 1. INTRODUCTION
developed for use in various ap- of
1. INTRODUCTION of
forbackstepping
attitude to control
stabilisation asa quadcopter.
well as position It uses
control.PD control
Özbek
Quadcopters are being developed for use in various ap- for
et
forbackstepping
attitude
al. (2016)
attitude to control
stabilisation
compare
stabilisation as
asa well
differentquadcopter.
well as position
strategies
as position Iti.e.
uses
control.
PID,
control.PD control
Özbek
Sliding
Özbek
Quadcopters
plications like are being
medical developed
aid delivery, for
as use
an in various
emergency ap-
first et al.
for (2016)stabilisation
attitude compare different as well strategies
as position i.e. PID, Sliding
control. Özbek
et
modeal. (2016)
and compare different
as wellstrategies i.e. aaPID, Sliding
Quadcopters
plications
Quadcopters
plications
responder,
Quadcopters
likeare
like
for
being
medical
are beingaid
medical
surveillance,
are being
developed
aid delivery,for
developed
delivery,
etc.
developed They
as use
for
as
for use
an
are
use
in
in various
an emergency
emergency
variouswith
helicopters
in various ap- for
ap-
first
first
ap-
et
mode
et al. and fuzzy
attitude
al. (2016)
(2016) fuzzy logic
logic for
stabilisation
compare
compare for controller
different
controller
different
design
as position
strategies
design i.e.
strategies
of
i.e.
quadcopter.
ofcontrol.
PID,
quadcopter.
PID,
Özbek
Sliding
Sliding
plications
responder, like
for medical
surveillance,aid delivery,
etc. They as an
are emergency
helicopters first
with
first mode mode
It
et al. and
compares
(2016)
and fuzzythem logic
compare on for
the controller
basis
different of design
tracking
strategies of
i.e.a quadcopter.
precision,
PID, ap-
Sliding
plications
responder,
four counter
plications like
for
like medicalpropellers
surveillance,
rotating
medical aid delivery,
aid delivery,
etc. They
placedasare
as an
an emergency
in helicopters
the same plane.
emergency with
first mode
It and fuzzy
It compares
compares
plicability
mode and fuzzy
of
fuzzy
them
them
logic
logic
control
logic
onfor
on
thecontroller
for
the
signals,
for
basis of design
controller
basis of
quality
controller
tracking
design
tracking
of
design
of aa quadcopter.
precision,
of precision,
transient
of a quadcopter.
response
quadcopter.
ap-
ap-
responder,
four counter
responder, forrotating
for surveillance,
propellers
surveillance, etc. They
etc. They
placed are
arein helicopters
the same
helicopters with
plane.
with It compares
plicability of them
control on the
signals,basis of
quality tracking
of precision,
transient response ap-
four counter
Theycounter rotating
are controlled
responder, forrotating propellers
by
surveillance, differential placed
etc. They in helicopters
adjustment
are the same
same
of the plane. It
an- plicability
with and compares
energy them
ofefficiency.
control on the
onsignals, basis of
quality tracking
of precision,
transient response ap-
four
They
four
They are controlled
counter
are controlled
rotating propellers
by differential
propellers placed in
in the
adjustment
placed the of the
same the an- It
plane.
plane. andcompares
plicability
energyof
plicability
them
control
efficiency.
ofefficiency.
the basis
control signals,
signals, quality
of tracking
quality of
precision,
of transient
transient response
response
ap-
gularcounter
four
They velocities
are controlledof theby
rotating by differential
rotors.
propellers
differential adjustment
Quadcopters
placed in
adjustment can same
the of
move
of the an-
freely
plane.
an- and energy
plicability of control signals, quality of transient response
gular
They velocities
are controlledof the
theby rotors. Quadcopters
differential adjustment can move
move
of the
the an- and
freely Just energy
as efficiency.
gular
in
in 3D
They
gular velocities
space
are
3D velocities
gular space
velocities
i.e.
controlledof
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i.e. of the
they
of the
rotors.
have
by
rotors.
have
rotors.
6 Quadcopters
6 degrees
differential
degrees of
adjustment
Quadcopters
of
Quadcopters
can
freedom(DOF).
can
freedom(DOF).
can
of
move
move
freely
But
an-
freely
But
freely
and as important
energy
Just energy
and efficiency.
important
efficiency.
as
as testing
testing the the designed
designed controllers
controllers in in
in 3D space i.e. they
thehave 6 Just as
simulation, important
is to as
deploy testing
the the designed
controller onto controllers
aa hardware in
they
gular
in
they
in 3D
3D
have
space
have
space
only
velocitiesi.e.
only
i.e.
4 rotors
of
they
4 rotors
they
rotors.
have
have 66 degrees
(actuators)
degrees
(actuators)
degrees
of
tofreedom(DOF).
Quadcopters
of
to
of
control
freedom(DOF).
control
freedom(DOF).
all 6 DOF.
can move
all 6 DOF.
But
freely
But
But
Just as
simulation,
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simulation,
testbed.
important
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important
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open
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in
nano
they
Thus,
in
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space are 4underactuated
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have(actuators)
6 degrees tofreedom(DOF).
systems.
ofto control
Independentall 66 DOF.
DOF.But Just
con- as important
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1.2,deploy the
open the designed
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a hardware
in
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Thus, theyonly
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only
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systems.
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all
all 66 DOF. con-
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all testbed.
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the robust ified version
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open access idea
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Peer review under responsibility of International Federation of Automatic Control.
10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.04.123
 Nitika Jaggi et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-1 (2022) 752–757 753

In this paper, we design a PD based Cascade controller for D = drag = k v

position control of a quadcopter in MATLAB/Simulink. I = moment of inertia = diag [Ix, Iy, Iz]
This controller is tested in multiple test cases in simula- [ω̃] = Cross product matrix
tion. A step ahead to that, the controller is deployed onto Translational velocity vector = v = [v1 , v2 , v3 ]
Pluto 1.2, a hardware testbed. While implementing the Angular velocity vector, ω = [ωx , ωy , ωz ]
same, a number of practical challenges are faced. A vision Input thrust vector, F = [Fx , F y , Fz ]   
based navigation system using ArUco tags is used to get lk Ω24 − Ω22 
position information. Further this data is transmitted to Input torque, τ = [τφ , τθ , τψ ] =   lk Ω23 − Ω21 
the drone via WiFi using Multiwii Serial Protocol(MSP) 2 2 2 2

b Ω 2 + Ω4 − Ω1 − Ω3
packets. For this purpose a new MSP command is written. Ωi = angular velocity of rotor i
The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 derives the l = length of quadrotor arm
mathematical model of the system. Section 3 describes the k = aerodynamic constant
control strategy used. Section 4 illustrates on the hardware b = drag factor for rotors
implementation. In section 5 the results of the simulation g = acceleration due to gravity
and hardware system are discussed. Section 6 concludes
the findings of the paper. Solving equations 1 to 4, we get the following dynamics:
 
Iy − Iz Jr l
2. MATHEMATICAL MODELLING φ̈ = θ̇ψ̇ − θ̇Ω + U2
Ix Ix Tx
 
This section describes the notation and reference frames Is − I x Jr l
θ̈ = φ̇ψ̇ + φ̇Ω + U3
used and then formulates the mathematical model of a Iy Ty Ty
generic quadcopter using the Newton - Euler method.  
Ix − I y 1
ψ̈ = φ̇θ̇ + U4
Iz Tz (5)
2.1 Notation Used
1
z̈ = −g + (cos φ cos θ) U1
Consider the following configuration of a quadcopter (fig m
1
1). The North-West-Up frame of reference has been used. ẍ = (cos φ sin θ cos ψ + sin φ sin ψ) U1
Roll axis is along x axis, pitch along y axis and yaw along m
z axis of the body fixed frame. Let the inertial frame 1
ÿ = (cos φ sin θ sin ψ − sin φ cos ψ) U1
be defined as EI : {oI , xI , yI , zI } and the body fixed m
frame be defined as EB : {ob , xb , yb , zb }. The position of Where,
 
U1 = k Ω21 + Ω22 + Ω23 + Ω24 = Collective Force (in N)
U2 = k Ω21 − Ω22  = Roll Force ( in N )
U3 = k  Ω23 − Ω21 = Pitch Force ( in N )
U4 = b Ω22 + Ω24 − Ω21 − Ω23 = Yaw Torque (in Nm)
Ω = Ω2 + Ω 4 − Ω 1 − Ω 3
Jr = Rotor inertia (in kg m2 )

2.3 Model of the system

Let the state vector, X be -

X = [x, y, z, φ, θ, ψ, ẋ, ẏ, ż, φ̇, θ̇, ψ̇] T
∈ R12
Fig. 1. Inertial reference frame and body fixed frame
attached to Quadcopter and input vector, U be -
T U = [U1 , U2 , U3 , U4 ] T
∈ R4 .
quadcopter in inertial frame EI is written as r = [ x y z ]
and orientation is represented by the 3-2-1 Euler set as The output of the system, Y, is considered to be the
Θ = [φ, θ, ψ]T . drone’s position and heading angle, defined as-
Y = [y1 , y2 , y3 , y4 ] T
= [x, y, z, ψ] T
∈ R4 .
2.2 Dynamics of the System
As can be seen from equations 5, the system is nonlinear.
The equations of motion of the quadcopter are given by To use with a linear controller, the equations need to be
Shi et al. (2020) and Gibiansky (2012) - linearised about an equilibrium point. Nonlinear systems
have infinitely many equilibrium points. In the case of
ṙ = v (1)
quadcopters, these are of 2 types- either when it is at rest
m{v̇} = [F ] + [G] + [D] (2) or when in hover state. Linearising the plant about hover
{Θ̇} = [B]{ω} (3) state for equilibrium inputs:
[I]{ω̇} + [ω̃][I]{ω} = {τ } (4) U ∗ = [mg, 0, 0, 0]T
Where, m = mass of quadcopter
The equilibrium state vector for the system is found to be:
G = gravity =[0, 0, -m g]
B = transformation matrix between angular rates & ω X ∗ = [x, y, z, 0, 0, ψ, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]T
754 Nitika Jaggi et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-1 (2022) 752–757

This implies that the linearised model behaves as the The linear model is approximated within a small operating
actual system with zero roll & pitch inclinations, no region. This region was found by considering a small
translational and rotational velocities and at any x,y,z perturbation around the operating point as well as the
position and heading. Selecting ψ = π/2 and performing physical limits of parameter values on Pluto 1.2. Using
Jacobian linearisation to find A,B,C,D matrices we get the the maximum rotor speed (Ω) of the Pluto 1.2 as 30,000
following linear model: rpm and equation 2.2, the outputs from the controllers
∆Ẋ = A ∆X + B ∆U were restricted to the following values: U1 = [0, 3.1034] N,
(6) U2 = [−1E − 4, 1E − 4] N, U3 = [−1E − 4, 1E − 4] N, U4
∆Y = C ∆X + D ∆U
= [−8.49E − 3, 8.49E − 3] Nm. Similarly, desired pitch &
Where, roll angles limited to around 15 deg or 0.2 rads.

∂f 
A= = [O6×6 , I6×6 ; a6×12 ]12×12
∂X (X ∗ ,U ∗ ) 3. CONTROLLER DESIGN

∂f  Using the model obtained in eq 6, the controllability and
B= = [O8×4 ; b4×4 ]12×4
∂U (X ∗ ,U ∗ ) observability of the system was checked. The system was
found to be open loop unstable but fully controllable.
  Hence, a controller can be designed for the system.
 100000000 0 0 0
∂g  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 As is evident from the dynamics (eq 5), the position states
C= =
∂X  (X ∗ ,U ∗ )
001000000 0 0 0 (x & y) depend upon the attitude states ( φ , θ and ψ).
000001000 0 0 0 4×12 This implies that the attitude dynamics are faster than the
 position dynamics for a quadcopter. Any control strategy
∂g 
D= = O4×4 thus designed can exploit this property. Throughout most
∂U (X ∗ ,U ∗ ) of the literature, the complete dynamics of the quadcopter
and   are broken down into 2 - Attitude dynamics and Position
0 0 0 g 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 dynamics and are controlled separately.Their relationship
0 0 0 0 g 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 is shown in fig 2.
 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
a=
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
1/m 0 0 0
0 l/Ix 0 0 
b= 
0 0 l/Iy 0
0 0 0 1/Iz Fig. 2. General control structure for quadcopters

The same can also be represented by the following transfer

function matrix: 3.1 Control Strategy employed
Y (s) = G(s)U (s)
Attitude dynamics are fast and key to stability of a quad-
Where, copter. Hence, they require a computationally simple and
 gl 
fast controller. Generally PD (Proportional plus Deriva-
0 0 0 tive) controllers are used for this purpose. The position
 Iy s4 
 gl  controller, on the other hand, is comparatively slower and
 
0 − 0 0  more complex. Depending upon the approach, both linear
G(s) = 
 1
Ix s 4 

  and nonlinear control can be used for it.
 ms2 0 0 0 
 1  The control strategy employed in this project can be seen
0 0 0 in fig 3. The complete control system has been divided
Iz s 2 into 4 subsystems. The controllers are in Cascade with
While modelling the linear as well as nonlinear system in the inner loop dedicated to the attitude controller and
MATLAB the parameters of the drone hardware used i.e. outer loop to control position. The outer loops generate the
Pluto 1.2 were considered. These are listed in Table 1. desired values or set points for the inner loops. Since, the x
Table 1. Pluto 1.2 parameters used for simula- position depends on the pitch angle (θ) and the y position
tion on the roll angle (φ), they form a separate subsystem
respectively. The Altitude (z) does not depend on any
Parameter value units orientation angle (linear model), hence it is considered as
m 0.056 kg a separate subsystem. Similarly, the heading angle (ψ)
L 0.065 m
is completely independent of the others and controlled
k 2.83e-08 Ns2
separately.
b 1.55e-10 Nms2
Ix 6.5e-05 kg m2 The attitude controllers (for φ, θ, ψ) are all chosen to
Iy 6.21e-05 kg m2 be PD controllers. Additionally, the position controllers
Iz 1.18e-04 kg m2 for x, y and z are also chosen as PD controllers. There
Jr 5.15e-07 kg m2 is a reason for this choice. Since, this is meant to be
 Nitika Jaggi et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-1 (2022) 752–757
Fig. 3. Control strategy employed in the project
implemented on a flight computer that has limited memory
and computational ability (Pluto 1.2’s flight controller
board is Primus V4), the controller must be simple, fast,
require less memory, be easier to program in C and process
output in real time.
Even though the system is nonlinear, a linear control
approach is utilised for maintaining computational sim-
plicity. The controller thus designed has restrictions on
the range of values of inputs and states.These restrictions
arise not only from the operating region (where the linear
and nonlinear models are similar) but also from physical
limitations like maximum rotor speeds, maximum linear
velocity, maximum roll and pitch angles, minimum thrust
input,etc.
3.2 Tuning the controllers
The control strategy used has 5 PD and 1 PID (Pro-
portional plus Integral plus Derivative) controllers which
need to be tuned. It requires finding out 13 parameters.
Further, the x and y subsystems have 2 loops in cascade.
It is not possible to tune these systems by trial and error
method not only due to the sheer number of parameters
but also because the system is unstable. Two approaches
were used for tuning - pole placement and Ziegler Nichols
(ZN) method. As mentioned in section 2.3, the upper and
lower bounds to various parameters were used. The gains
thus obtained on the linear model, were applied to the
nonlinear system. An interesting thing to note here is that
since x & y are interacting in the actual plant, their outer
loops needed to be re-tuned at a specific operating point
i.e. ∆x = [ -25, 25 ], ∆y = [ -25, 25 ] and ∆z = [ -10, 150].
4. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION
After the controller was designed and tested in simulation,
it was to be implemented onto the actual hardware, Pluto
1.2, a programmable, nano-drone developed by Drona
Aviation Pvt Ltd. The hardware implementation requires
more than just the controller as shown in Fig 4. There are
3 major blocks to consider - the controller (rewritten in
C), Navigation system and Communication module.
4.1 Navigation subsystem
In order to do set point regulation, the system needs
information of all its 6 primary states i.e. position in x,
y, z axes and the attitude (roll, pitch, yaw angles) in 3D
space. Pluto 1.2 combines data from a 3 axis gyroscope
755
Fig. 4. Block diagram of the practical system
and 3 axis accelerometer on-board to provide orientation
information. It uses data from a barometer sensor onboard
to estimate altitude. However, there is no sensor to provide
the drone with its x,y position in 3D space.
Keeping the available resources in mind, the Vision
based navigation method was chosen. It works on the
principle of detecting special features in an image, gener-
ally Fiducial Markers, and tracking them to see how the
object moves relative to them. For this project ArUco
markers were chosen as they are computationally sim-
ple, fast to detect and quite robust to marker occlusion
(Garrido-Jurado et al. (2014)). For this project, the 4X4
dictionary of markers was used. The tag was printed on
paper and attached to the top of the canopy of Pluto 1.2.
A wide angle webcam, fixed on the ceiling, tracked these
markers using an OpenCV based Python script.
4.2 Communication subsystem
Once the position information is retrieved, it needs to be
sent to the drone which was quite challenging as there was
no method existing for that for Pluto 1.2. The solution was
the following. Pluto 1.2 uses an ESP8266 WiFi module on-
board which transfers data serially between the drone and
the ground station. This is configured to act as an Access
Point which uses the TCP/IP connection with Telnet
protocol. The data transmitter is required to connect to
Pluto’s WiFi network as a Client.
Pluto 1.2’s firmware (based on Cleanflight) transmits
and receive data packaged using the Multiwii Serial Pro-
tocol (MSP). Thus, a new MSP command was added
to the firmware called MSP POS PACKET with a value of
230. In response to it, 4 data bytes of data would be
read, the first 2 would be assigned to an extern variable
xpos aruco with unsigned integer datatype, MSB first.
Similarly, the next 2 databytes would be assigned to ex-
tern variable ypos aruco. These modifications were made
in Magis master/src/main/io/serial msp.cpp file of
Pluto 1.2’s firmware. After this, the complete file was re-
built to check for errors and generate the necessary library
file. The generated libpluto 03.a is then copied to the
libs folder of the desired position tracking program of the
controller written in C. This concludes the modifications
made in the firmware for communication.
On the Client side, another ESP8266 NodeMCU module
was connected to the computer running the Navigation
script. The Python script generates the position data in
the form of a string. This string must be sent to the drone
in the proper configuration using MSP protocol via WiFi.
A block diagram of the complete hardware setup is shown
in fig 5. Fig shows the image of the actual lab setup with
a laptop connected to the overhead camera which tracks
the drone (bottom left).
756 Nitika Jaggi et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-1 (2022) 752–757

Fig. 8. Controller performance for pure translation in

backward direction

Fig. 5. Block diagram of the complete system

Fig. 9. Controller performance for pure translation along

left direction

Fig. 10. Controller performance for pure translation in the

Fig. 6. Photograph of the actual lab setup right direction
5. RESULTS & DISCUSSION

5.1 Controller designed

The designed controller was tested for different scenarios

in simulation.The fig 7 and 8 show the performance of
the controller when given a pure translation step input
in x axis in forward and backward directions respectively.
The fig 9 and 10 show the performance of the controller Fig. 11. Controller performance for increasing altitude
when given a step input of 50m in y axis in left and
right directions respectively. The fig 11 and 12 show the
performance of the controller when given a step input of
100m to increase altitude and step of 50m to decrease
altitude respectively.

Fig. 12. Controller performance for decreasing altitude

estimator to Node MCU. The program in Node MCU

Fig. 7. Controller performance for pure translation in
forward direction
5.2 Navigation and Communication system
The ArUco tag on the quadcopter is correctly identi-
fied and its position is properly estimated. The position
string is successfully transmitted from the Python position
also successfully packages the data packets and transmits
them to the drone. Pluto 1.2’s firmware identifies the
MSP command received from Node MCU and responds
accordingly too. This shows that the whole navigation
& communication system works properly. Fig 13 shows a
still from a video recorded of the experiment which tested
the back-end communication and navigation system. The
image on the left shows the quadcopter position being
detected before taking off and right image shows the same
while in flight.
 Nitika Jaggi et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-1 (2022) 752–757 757

Dydek, Z.T., Annaswamy, A.M., and Lavretsky, E. (2013).

Adaptive Control of Quadrotor UAVs: A Design Trade
Study With Flight Evaluations. IEEE Transactions
on Control Systems Technology, 21(4), 1400–1406. doi:
10.1109/TCST.2012.2200104.
Garrido-Jurado, S., Muñoz-Salinas, R., Madrid-Cuevas,
F., and Medina-Carnicer, R. (2016). Generation of
fiducial marker dictionaries using Mixed Integer Linear
Programming. Pattern Recognition, 51, 481–491. doi:
10.1016/j.patcog.2015.09.023.
Fig. 13. Flight test of Navigation & Communication sys- Garrido-Jurado, S., noz Salinas, R.M., Madrid-Cuevas, F.,
tem and Marı́n-Jiménez, M. (2014). Automatic generation
6. CONCLUSION and detection of highly reliable fiducial markers under
occlusion. Pattern Recognition, 47(6), 2280 – 2292. doi:
The main objective of this work was to design a position http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.patcog.2014.01.005.
controller for a quadcopter and test its performance on Gibiansky, A. (2012). Quadcopter Dynamics and Simula-
hardware. Pluto 1.2 is an excellent platform for researchers tion.
to work with aerial robotics as it is open source and Kulich, T. (2019). Indoor navigation using vision-based
economical. The only drawback it had was the lack of localization and augmented reality.
Navigation support.This functionality was only available Luukkonen, T. (2011). Modelling and control of quad-
in Robot Operating System (ROS) and not in C. Without copter.
knowledge of where the drone is in 3D space, its position Romero-Ramirez, F.J., Muñoz-Salinas, R., and Medina-
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With the setup developed in this project, the position of 47. doi:10.1016/j.imavis.2018.05.004.
Pluto 1.2 can be estimated by Computer Vision and ArUco Schaub, H. and Junkins, J.L. (2009). Analytical mechanics
tags and be transmitted wirelessly to the drone. This setup of space systems. AIAA education series. American
allows control systems researchers to easily develop their Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA,
controllers in C. As per the author’s knowledge, such a 2nd ed edition. OCLC: ocn432595022.
system has not been built previously for Pluto drones. The Shi, D., Wu, Z., and Chou, W. (2020). Anti-disturbance
author considers this to be her contribution to the open trajectory tracking of quadrotor vehicles via gen-
source robotics community. Using this method, researchers eralized extended state observer. Journal of Vi-
can easily build cheap experimental platforms for testing bration and Control, 26(13-14), 1173–1186. doi:
their controllers. This shows the promise of bringing the 10.1177/1077546319892752.
notoriously expensive aerial robotics within the reach of a Özbek, N.S., Önkol, M., and Efe, M. (2016). Feedback con-
wider research community. trol strategies for quadrotor-type aerial robots: a survey.
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