Trajectory Tracking for Aerobatics Maneuvers in Quadrotors Vehicle

Some inspection missions for quadrotors require a previous definition of the trajectories before being tracked. The well design of the trajectory can contribute for the success of the mission when aggressive maneuvers are demanded. In this paper, we propose a solution for designing and tracking unconventional trajectories requiring aerobatics maneuvers in quadrotors. The trajectory is based on the Hopf bifurcations and the sliding mode approach to form spiral loops in 3D around a pillar that need to be inspected by a quadrotor. The control architecture is based on the sliding mode methodology adding new parameters for achieving a desired angular velocity around the stable limit cycle solution. The proposed solution is validated in simulations and numerical results illustrate the good performance of the proposed trajectory-tracking control scheme.