Experimental Validation of UWB-Based Fault-Tolerant Control for Quadcopters Subject to Actuator Failures

Abstract

This paper presents a fault-tolerant control algorithm for a four-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (quadcopter) using an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) positioning system. The proposed control system allows the vehicle to maintain flight stability and position control capability even in the case of a partial actuator failure (motor efficiency degradation). The approach is based on a combination of reconfigurable control, adaptive control, and an observer-based state/los+s monitor. The validity of the method is demonstrated through Lyapunov stability mathematical analysis and verified by real-world flight experiments in an indoor environment using UWB. Experimental results show that the system maintains attitude stability, position hold, and altitude with acceptable errors when a fault occurs, thereby confirming the feasibility and effectiveness of the controller