Hardware in the loop networked control and diagnosis of a quadrotor drone

Abstract: This paper deals with the design, real-time implementation and testing of the control and diagnostic functions of a quadrotor drone, implemented using a Network Control System (NCS). For diagnostic purpose, an indicator is used to make the difference between packet losses due to the network and sensor faults. The control and diagnostic algorithms are implemented as a multitask and multirate real-time software using a design environment called Orccad. A hardware-in-the-loop simulator has been set up, connecting with a CAN bus the controller, running on the embedded target, and a real-time simulated model of the drone. The results of the real time implementation are compared with the simulation results using Matlab/Simulink and Truetime toolbox. This allows the validation of the proposed architecture