A Robust Multi-Constraint Funnel MRAC System With Applications to Autonomous Multi-Rotor UAVs Transporting Payloads Connected by Ropes

This paper presents a robust model reference adaptive control (MRAC) system that enforces hard constraints on the trajectory tracking error and soft constraints on the control effort at all times. A novelty of the proposed MRAC system lies in the fact that, if needed, user-defined constraints are adapted to be compatible with the controlled plant dynamics. Applied to the design of the outer loop of an autonomous X8 uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) transporting an unknown payload connected by a flexible rope, the proposed MRAC system provides improved solutions over similar state-of-the-art controllers.