High-Performance Model Predictive Control for Quadcopters with Formal Stability Guarantees

In this paper, we present a novel cascade control structure with formal guarantees of uniform almost global asymptotic stability for the state tracking error dynamics of a quadcopter. The proposed approach features a model predictive control strategy for the outer loop, explicitly accounting for the non-zero total thrust constraint. The outer-loop controller generates an acceleration reference, which is then converted into attitude, angular velocity and acceleration references, subsequently tracked by a nonlinear inner-loop controller. The proposed cascade control strategy is validated through numerical case studies, underlying high-fidelity models, demonstrating its ability to track fast trajectories with small error.