Investigation of Closed-Loop Control Strategies for a Martian Quadcopter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.2226Keywords:
quadcopters, control theory, PID, MarsAbstract
With the increasing focus on human and robotic exploration of Mars, the development of extraterrestrial rotorcraft has accelerated. Inspired by the success and limitations of NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter, this research investigates closed-loop control strategies, specifically Proportional-Derivative (PD) control, for application in a hypothetical two-dimensional Martian quadcopter. First, the paper applies a PD control law to a basic spring-mass damper system. Then the paper models quadcopter dynamics and develops a PD controller to bring the quadcopter to a desired state. Using the MarsBird-VII quadcopter design as a baseline, this study employs simulations to compare quadcopter dynamics and different PD gains in both Earth and Martian environments. The results demonstrate the necessity for environment-specific tuning of control gains.
References
“Ingenuity Mars Helicopter - NASA Science.” NASA, science.nasa.gov/mission/mars2020-perseverance/ingenuity-mars-helicopter/.
Chiou, Lyndie, “NASA’s Plans for Next-Generation Mars Helicopters Are Up in the Air”,
Scientific American, May 8, 2024, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasasplans-for-next-generation-mars-helicopters-are-up-in-the-air/
Wall, Mike, “'It's sort of been invincible until this moment:' Mars helicopter Ingenuity pilot
says 'bland' terrain may have doomed NASA chopper”, space.com, January 25, 2024.
https://www.space.com/ingenuity-mars-helicopter-doomed-bland-terrain
Wei, Erhu. Jin, Shuanggen. Zhang, Qi. Et al. “Autonomous navigation of Mars probe
using X-ray pulsars: Modeling and results”, Advances in Space Research, October 10,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027311771200659X
Yu, Zhengshi. Cui, Pingyuan. Crassidis, John L. “Design and Optimization of Navigation
and Guidance Techniques for Mars Pinpoint Landing: Review and Prospect”, Progress in
Aerospace Sciences, September, 2017.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376042117301082
Lam, Johnny N. Bayard, David. Conway, Dylan T. et al. “Flight Control System For
NASA’s Mars Helicopter”, JPL dartslab, 2019.
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2019-1289
Forino, Francesca, “SPACE DRONES: Design and Control of UAVs for planetary
exploration”, Politecnico Di Torino, July, 2020. https://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/15163/
Michelson, Robert C. Naqvi, Messam A. “Extraterrestrial Flight (Entomopter-Based Mars
Surveyor)”, http://angel-strike.com/entomopter/MICHELSON-NAQVI-2.pdf
Kallstrom, Kristen. Weist, Lauren. Schatzman, Natasha. Et al. “PlanetarY Telemetric
Helicopter for Investigation and Analysis (PYTHIA): A Rotorcraft for Martian Lava Tube
Exploration”, NASA Ames Research Center. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20240001049
Kaijie Zhu, Qiquan Quan, Dewei Tang, Yachao Dong, Kaiyi Wang, Bo Tang, Qi Wu,
Zongquan Deng, “A Mars quadcopter capable of autonomous flight and sample
collection: Structure and avionics”, Acta Astronautica.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094576523006033
Bayisa, Ayele, “Controlling Quadcopter Altitude using PID-Control System”, International
Journal of Engineering Research & Technology, December, 2019.
pires=1737332788&Signature=Nmrp1ZtZ6vYJmCdhI4BJNoOIvI0HcBta6yIxOqHzsesbCp
lIaM6RD2M-igkQKXswX9lSi61SROPIc8uS7NPgo9stfgd6YYZy5Ovo2tuX7Vfd83ruuBQmeWfDnp01TZy
xPe458D-Ccpd~Z1DBtktbl1-
RZtpDhngKUwsTMZe1R3O1TYSZyg7TQbhyMeMhzj8fNdt0ZtzsHQ1PU8h8t1I1XX0HCwTmmoE30R4LOeDK5N49WLLrRU0ElslRVPsTFD0l-4AfFWbb~KZ~1Lcpi5m2gn77y9H9FsmfynbkXURg8gSYinXnkRhqV590pCita6VKxCim2waRYqaR
QGF7NQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
Trentelman, H., Stoorvogel, A. A., & Hautus, M. (2002). Control theory for linear systems.
University of Groningen, Johann Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics and Computer
Friedland, Bernard, “Control System Design: A Introduction to state-Space Models”,
Dover Publications, 1986. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hamid-Nasir2/publication/297838887_Stocking_and_stand_structure_of_Sungai_Kerang_mangroves
_in_matang_peninsular_Malaysia/links/5c05e070299bf169ae3049c0/Stocking-andstand-structure-of-Sungai-Kerang-mangroves-in-matang-peninsular-Malaysia.pdf
Chen, Guanrong, “Stability of Nonlinear Systems”, Department of Electronic Engineering
City University of Hong Kong Kowloon, December, 2004.
d9/Stability-of-Nonlinear-Systems.pdf
Coursera, Robotics: Aerial Robotics. https://cookierobotics.com/052/
Downloads
Posted
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Rohit Bhattiprolu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.