Adaptive Neural PID Outer-Loop Control for Quadcopter UAVs with Asymmetric Saturation

Abstract

This paper presents an adaptive outer-loop neural PID control scheme with asymmetric saturation and clamping anti-windup for a quadcopter drone, using online training based on the Extended Kalman Filter. This proposal mitigates the effects of actuator saturation and maintains operational feasibility under physical constraints. Multirotors possess distinct aerodynamic capacities, requiring continuous thrust for vertical gravity compensation versus tilt-induced forces for horizontal translation. Therefore, the proposed framework incorporates coupled asymmetric saturation limits to prevent directional vector distortion alongside a clamping-based anti-windup mechanism and dynamic tuning for controller gains.