Cooperative Control for Multirotors Transporting an Unknown Suspended Load Under Environmental Disturbances

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a cooperative control algorithm for a group of multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) transporting a suspended payload of unknown mass. In addition, the vehicles are subjected to unknown environmental disturbances in the form of wind. The control structure is analyzed using Lyapunov theory, and both numerical simulations and results from experimental field trials on an outdoor multirotor platform further validate the proposed control algorithm.