Robust control of aerial cable-suspended payload transportation via fully actuated system approach

2026/02/10 by Junjie Kang, Jinjun Shan
Engineering · #Adaptive Control of Nonlinear Systems #Control and Dynamics of Mobile Robots #Stability and Control of Uncertain Systems

paper · doi:10.1016/j.conengprac.2026.106837

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles with cable-suspended payloads suffer from underactuation, strong coupling, and disturbances. These factors often cause payload swing and degrade tracking performance. This paper proposes a robust control method based on the fully actuated system (FAS) framework. The system dynamics are reformulated into a reduced-order FAS form with virtual constraints. The remaining states are arranged into a cascade structure for ensuring stability. On this basis, FAS controllers are designed for both outer-loop dynamics (UAV position and payload swing) and inner-loop attitude dynamics. Disturbance observers are introduced to handle external disturbances. Stability is proved through cascade analysis. Simulations and experiments confirm that the proposed controllers achieve robust waypoint tracking with improved swing suppression.

Citations

• Nonlinear Motion Control for a Quadrotor Transporting a Cable-Suspended Payload
• Smooth second-order sliding modes: Missile guidance application

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