2018 IEEE 8th International Conference on System Engineering and Technology (ICSET 2018), 15 – 16 October 2018, Bandung, Indonesia

Modeling and Implementation of Hexacopter

Guidance System Using Fuzzy Logic Control Under
Wind Disturbance
Meti Megayanti1*, Yayan P Nugraha1, Indri Purwita Sary1, Egi Hidayat1, Bambang R Trilaksono1
1School of Electrical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung

Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, Indonesia1

*metimegayanti.itb@gmail.com

Abstract— Recently, research in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle guidance and control algorithms that ensure satisfactory
(UAV) field is growing rapidly due to their evolving needs in operation on the uncertainties environtment [6]. The controller
many implemented sectors. In this research, we use hexacopter design for hexacopter, is not a straightforward task, many
for monitoring contaminated chemical-radioactive-nuclear challenges arise because of highly nonlinear dynamics system.
(CRN ) area. The hexacopter need high altitude and attitude To verify and evaluate the designed control system without
stabilization to tracking way point precisely. The PID guidance real flight, simulating the flight processing on software system
system with FLC intervention is used to produce correction and vizualizing Hexacopter operations, SITL technique is
signal to improve the tracking performance of the hexacopter. needed to be perfomed [7].
Software in the loop (SITL) simulation using Matlab and
Robotic Operating System (ROS) was conducted to verify
Fuzzy-PID intervention guidance performance before
implementation. Based on simulation and experimental result,
it shown that the tracking performance of the hexacopter in
terms faster transient response, smaller error steay state, faster
settling time, better static and dynamics performance and
robust under wind disturbance for altitude and attitude have
been improved by using Fuzzy-PID intervention algorithm.

Keywords— Hexacopter, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV),

Fuzzy-PID Intervention Control, Wind Disturbance, Robotic
Operating System (ROS), Chemical-Radioactive-Nuclear (CRN)

I. INTRODUCTION
Recently, research in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
field is growing rapidly due to their evolving needs in many
implemented sectors such as in military, surveillance,
meteorology, search, rescue and other fields where is too risky
for human exposure [1]. There continue to handle more
complex missions, which are using more advanced method.
One of them, the implementation in more complex and risky
sector, is military and civilian application that surely need
more effort to achieve good performance. There are some
difficulties in this application, for example hazardous
environments that containing some toxic substances
contamination, extreme environments, and also some area that
difficult reached by human. So they can be solved by
designing collaboration some robots strategy for military
mission [2], that can board without human during complex
and risky mission.
In this paper, specifically, hexacopter is used for
monitoring contaminated chemical-radioactive-nuclear
(CRN) area. Unfortunately, the position and attitude of the
UAV may be changed by the air flow, body vibration, self-
control accuracy and other uncertain factors [3]. Moreover,
the performance of wind resistant is significant for
practicability [4]. To achieve successful mission, it’s
important to stabilize the attitude and altitude of UAV for
maintaining the desired orientation and for safety during flight
[5].
Successful control system for high performance UAV
requires efficient and effective teqniques for the design of
Fig. 1. Scenario for monitoring contaminated chemical-
radioaktive-nuclear (CRN) area
Hexacopter need high precision tracking according to
required way point that must be achieved. Conceptually, fuzzy
intervention give output signal correction for compensation
output signal of PID controller that not achieve reference [8].
In this paper, to make the Hexacopter UAV have excellent
static and dynamic characteristics, PID and Fuzzy method are
combined. System Fuzzy logic controller is used to
compensate for stability errors from PID guidance according
to the wind disturbances in environtment condition, which can
make UAV more stable, robust from wind disturbance and
better performance. The control system with wind disturbance
dynamics was simulated by using matlab-ROS and the result
of attitude and altitude stabilization performance was
conducted with PID method that intervented with Fuzzy-PID
method. We propose a platform for Fuzzy-PID intervention
control method that implemented on hexacopter UAV to
achieve way point tracking mission.
II. SYSTEM MODELING
The Hexacopter UAV motion consists of three force and
three moment component which form six Degree of Freedom
(6 DoF). As the dynamics systems, six rotors speeds are the
systems input and position (x, y, z) and attitude (Φ, θ, Ψ) are
system outputs. The combination of rotor’s speed variation
generate some motions, such as: throttle, roll (rotation

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arround x axis), pitch (rotation arround y axis) and yaw TABLE I. SYMBOL DESCRIPTION
(rotation arround z axis), which are described in equation (1) Symbol Mean
as U1, U2, U3 and U4 respectively. , , Position coordinat
, , Euler angle : roll, pitch, yaw
, , Translatioanl velocity
, , Angular velocity
Total mass of hexacopter
Gravity constant
Distance to center of gravity
Thrust constant [Ns2]
The drag factor [Nms]
U Altitude force
U ,U ,U Attitude moments
Ω ,Ω ,Ω ,Ω ,Ω ,Ω Propeller speeds
Matrix of system inertia
Matrix of coriolis
Gravitation force
Gyroscopic Effect
Fig. 2. The structure and frame of hexacopter
Force and Torque
A. Hexacopter Kinematics
III. THE TURBULENT WIND FIELD MODEL
Figure 2 ilustrated the schematic structure of hexacopter
and the rotational directions. There are two reference that The simulation of atmospheric turbulance that having
necessary to describe the hexacopter motion, which are earth statistical characteristics described with Dryden spectra
analysis model. It can be used for simulating the hexacopter
inertial frame and body fix frame. Equation (2) denotes the
uav under the circumtance of wind disturbance, an
transformation of the body inertial frame to earth inertial atmospheric wind velocity model that needed to be integrated
frame [9,10]. into further simulation. The Dryden model is a function form
= (1) that empiricaly fits the measured power spectral data, handling
the linear and angular velocity component of the continues
− + + gust of random processes, moreover it assumes turbulence
= + − + (2) gust are isotropic (the statistical properties do not depend on
−
orientation of air mass itself) [4].
1 The Dryden model is described in following equation (6),
= 0 − (3) (7), (8) that Power Spectral Densities (PSD) for wind gust
0 three linear velocity components in x, y, z axis, respectively.
( )= (6)
B. Hexacopter Dynamics
The dynamic model of hexacopter presented in equation
(5) based on the equation of motion some forces and torques
applied in it, that give the translational and three rotational ( )= (7)
motion for hexacopter with respect to the body frame, which
is described in equation (4).
+ = + + (4) ( )= (8)

IV. CONTROLLER DESIGN

During tracking to reach the goal of mission, UAV is
requirred to maintain appropiate stable longitudinal attitude,
satisfying the requirement of route planning. Therefore pitch
control is need to be designed. Moreover, to satisfy the
turning motion and rolling its body to generate centripetal
force, UAV is also requirred to maintain stable lateral which
is steady heading. Therefore roll and yaw control is needed.
Surely, altitude control need to be design for maintaining its
(5)
desired elevation when UAV is hovering. Finally, the
The equation (5) can be written as state space form, which
proposed controller contain of four Fuzzy-PID which are
are hexacopter model on longitudinal and lateral mode. Table
pitch control, roll control, yaw control , as attitude control,
I summarized the symbols that has used.
and altitude control.
The input of FPID controller is altitude and attitude
reference and its output is control signal that convert to motor
speed. The following block diagram in figure 3 described

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control Fuzzy-PID system that apply for each pitch, roll, yaw, TABLE III. THE OUTPUT VARIABLS BOUNDARIES AND FUZZY
INTERFACE
and altitude controller. In this paper, two steps were
investigated, which are applying two input : error and error
Altitude Roll Pitch Yaw
derivative than adding wind velocity as input. Therefore
UAV performance can be shown in under wind disturbance NB -62.5 -160 -160 -347.5
conditions. NM -52.5 -140 -140 -317.5
In this simulation and implementation, we assumed that NS -42.5 -120 -120 -287.5
ZE 0 0 0 0
experiment area is 30 m x 30 m, altitude of hexacopter for
PS 42.5 120 120 287.5
achieving mission is 2 m with consideration its height PM 52.5 140 140 317.5
changing human operator, roll and pitch angle still in PB 62.5 160 160 347.5
stabilizazion threshold and maximum heading hexacopter is 2) Fuzzifying the inputs using the input membership
90° (1.57 rad) that can satisfy way point tracking and range functions of Gaussians curve, which described in figure 4.
of wind speed is 1 m/s for translational wind speed and 1 rad/s
for rotation wind speed.

Fig. 4. Input Membership Function of FLC, error (e) and delta-

error (de)

3) Combining the fuzzified inputs according to the fuzzy

Fig. 3. Block Diagram Control 3 input Fuzzy-PID rules , which shown in the following table for 2 input, to
establish rule strength. The fuzzy-PID control rules table
The fuzzy control rules are defined by following equations ,
is defined in Table IV.
(13) and (14) respectively :
TABLE IV. THE FUZZY-PID CONTROL RULE FOR 2 INPUTS
IF = and = ; Then = (13)
/ NB NS ZE PS PB
IF = and vw = ; Then = (14) NB NB NB NS ZE ZE
NS NB NS NS ZE ZE
Where e is the error of input signal, de is its derivative and ZE NS ZE ZE PS PS
vw is wind velocity. The value of e, de, and vw are defined PS PM PM PB PB PB
PB PM PB PB PB PB
in the universe on the fuzzy set {NB, NS, ZE, PS, PB}, in
which these linguistic levels mean Negative Big, Negative
The output surface decribing the relationship between inputs
Small, Zero, Positive Small and Positive Big. X1, X2, and X3 and each output, which is despicted in figure 5.
are defined in fuzzy of set e, de, and vw, respectively and Y1
and Y2, are defined in fuzzy of set signal control.
To compute u , as signal output for each control using
fuzzy-PID , describe in the following step :
1) Determining a set of fuzzy rules which defined in table II
and III

TABLE II. THE INPUT VARIABLS BOUNDARIES AND FUZZY

INTERFACE

ALT Z Roll, Pitch Yaw

Input -5 ~ -5 ~ -0.075 -0.075 ~ -3.14 ~ -3.14 ~

5 5 ~ 0.075 0.075 3.14 3.14
NB -5 -5 -0.075 -0.075 -3.14 -3.14
NS -2.5 -2.5 -0.0375 -0.0375 -1.1 -1.1 Fig. 5. The relationship between input and output altitude, roll-
ZE 0 0 0 0 0 0 pitch and yaw attitude angle
PS 2.5 2.5 0.0375 0.0375 1.1 1.1
PB 5 5 0.075 0.075 3.14 3.14 4) Finding the conseqence of rule by combinning the rule
strength and the output.

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5) Combining the consequences to get an output distribution
and defuzzifying the output distribution.
6) Calculating the control signal , u, according the output of
fuzzy in the previous step.
( ) = ( ) + ( )

V. SIMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATIOM RESULT AND

DISCUSSION
The parameters using real quadrotor UAV is depicted on
Table VI. The Fuzzy-PID control is simulated by using
Matlab Simulink. System for software in the loop design by
linking 6-DOF dynamics of hexacopter and wind turbulence
simulator (plant mathemathical model using Simulink
Matlab) , operator enter commands in the form of waypoint Fig. 6. Block Diagram Software in the Loop
through Ground Control Station (GCS) , satisfying of route
mission. Than, each reference position send to Matlab-
Ω = ( +2 − )
Simulink via ROS. The data received by Matlab-Simulink
application is throttle, roll, pitch, yaw control signal , which Ω = ( + − √3 + )
are U1, U2, U3, U4 respectively, and convert it to six motor Ω = ( − − √3 − )
speed ( Ω , Ω , Ω , Ω , Ω , Ω ) than resulting outputs of
Hexacopter state, which are attitude (roll angle, pitch angle Ω = ( − 2 + ) (15)
and yaw angle) and altitude data. We used Dryden model for Ω = ( − + √3 − )
generating a turbulent wind field to analyze stabilization
Ω = ( + + √3 + )
performance and robustness of hexacopter controller, which
are altitude and attitude controller.

TABLE V. THE PARAMETERS OF HEXACOPTER UAV

Symbol Mean Value [ SI ]

m Total mass 11 kg
l Length of arm 0.392 m
g Gravity Constant 9.81 m/s2
Ixx Inertia moment of x-axis 0.236049 kg.m2
Iyy Inertia moment of y-axis 0.236049 kg.m2
Izz Inertia moment of z-axis 0.354985 kg.m2
mm Mass of motor 0.258 kg
Jr Rotor Inertia 0.004753 kg.m2
b Thrust Factor 3.56047 x 10-05 N.s2
Fig. 7. Block Diagram Implementation
d Drag Factor 0.000168708 N.m.s2
Control design analysis is important process , which is a
In this paper we present a implementation platform for hexacopter UAV system performance can be determined. In
Fuzzy-PID control method adopted in Hexacopter UAV. this research, it contains simulation and implementation of
Figure 7 describe system for FPID UAV design by linking altitude and attitude control roll angle, pitch angle and yaw
graphical flight visualization on PC, hardware Intel NUC, as angle), respectively described in the following section.
controller, PX4, Ground Control Station using for waypoint
A. Simulation of Altitude Control
tracking, and six hexacoper motors as actuator, which FPID
controller algorithm applied first in software in the loop Figure 8 shows altitude stabilization response of
simulation described by figure 6. Reference altitude and Hexacopter UAV SITL simulation, which is setting on 2 m
attitude processed by FPID controller on NUC for giving height for altitude desired when UAV hover under wind
control signal to six hexacopter motor actuator that used to disturbance. When 5 s to 10 s and wind speed (relative to z
achive reference point regarding to way point that obtained negative) is 0.5 m / s, hexacopter still maintains in altitude 2
on GCS through guidance UAV on NUC and Pixhawk as m. This is because FLC which considers wind speed input has
flight controller. provided an upward force with a control signal of up to 75
pwm to intervene in PID guides. As it can be seen, figure 8
gave dynamic performances, when hexacopter hover under
wind disturbance, the FPID controller has faster transient
response in small error steady state. The FPID give some
control signal to force hexacopter moved smoothly and stable
in altitude desired, better in terms of settling response time
compare with PID.

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Fig. 8. Simulation of Altitude Stabilization Response of Hexacopter UAV
(up side : time response, bottom side : control signal of FPID)
B. Simulation of Attitude Control
Figure 9 and 10 show roll and pitch attitude stabilization
response of Hexacopter UAV, which is setting on 0.026 rad
angle for attitude desired using Fuzzy-PID under wind
disturbance.
Fig. 9. Simulation of Roll Attitude Angle Stabilization Response of
Hexacopter UAV
Figure 9 and 10 show that hexacopter SITL using FPID
cascade gave better performance in terms of increasing the
rise time, steady time, more stable at reference angle φ and θ
0.026 rad and minimizing steady state errors. With this
performance hexacopter can achive the trajectory mission
towards the specified point point with 0.026 rad sideways
movement after taking a 2 m take off mission. Under wind
speed 1 rad/s, steady state error of roll and pitch attitude angle
reach 0.02 rad and 0.03 rad respectively.
Fig. 10. Simulation of Pitch Attitude Angle Stabilization Response of
Hexacopter UAV
Figure 11 shows yaw attitude stabilization response of
Hexacopter UAV, which is setting on 1.87 rad angle for
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attitude desired, using Fuzzy-PID intervention under wind
disturbance that its speed up to 1 rad/s. Yaw controller is used
for heading of hexacopter UAV to complete tracking
trajectory. Figure 11 shown FPID controller has better
performance in terms faster transient response, smaller steady
state (that reach 0.1 rad), control signal give some motions to
achieve the desired of yaw angle, compare to PID controller.
It also has successfully make hexacopter achive the yaw
angle desired under wind disturbance.
Fig. 11. Simulation of Yaw Attitude Angle Stabilization Response
of Hexacopter UAV
C. Implementation of Altitude Control
Figure 12 shows altitude stabilization response of
Hexacopter UAV implemntation, which is setting on 2 m
height for altitude desired, up and bottom side described time
response of controller performance FPID intervention and its
control signal respectively.
Fig. 12. Implementation of Altitude Stabilization Response of
Hexacopter UAV
(up side : time response, bottom side : control signal of FPID)
Steady state error in FPID system implementation for
stability of altitude reach 0.04 m. The control signal that
interferes with the PID guidance is compensated by Fuzzy to
reduce the steady state error and make the hexacopter
maintain its position at 2 m.
Steady state error in the FPID SITL simulation system for
altitude stability and attitude roll, pitch, yaw in hexacopter
reach 0.25 m, 0.02 rad, 0.03 rad, and 0.025 rad respectively
in wind conditions with linear speeds of 1 m / s and rotation
of 1 rad / s.
D. Implementation of Attitude Control
The PID controller has good performance in linear region,
but it has some limitations in non linear region, which it away
from hover, moving hexacopter in x or y axis using roll and
pitch stabilization. Figure 13 show FPID controller has better
dynamics and static performance, smaller error and faster
transient response, smaller overshoot, smaller settling time
and smaller error steady state. PID controller that intervented
by FLC force the control signal to stable at desired degree of
roll and pitch. The smaller error of pitch and roll angle, more
stable hexacopter flight around x and y axis which it flight
smoothly. The steady state error in the way point movement
implementation in the x and y axes reach 1 m and 0.7 m in
sequence for achieving trajectory 30 m along x y axes.
Fig. 13. Implementation of Attitude Angle Stabilization Response
of Hexacopter UAV (left side :positive x reference , right side :
negative y reference)
Fig. 14. Implementation of Yaw Attitude Angle Stabilization
Response of Hexacopter UAV (left side :positif yaw reference,
right side : negative yaw reference)
Figure 14 shows yaw attitude stabilization response of
Hexacopter UAV, which is setting on 1.87 rad and -1.87
angle for yaw attitude desired, using Fuzzy-PID intervention
controller. Steady state error in FPID system implementation
for stability of attitude yaw 0.36 rad. It prove that FPID
controller has better performance in terms faster transient
response, smaller steady state , control signal give some
motions to achieve the desired of yaw angle.
Steady state error in FPID system implementation for
stability of altitude and attitude yaw reach 0.04 m and 0.36
rad respectively. While the steady state error in the way point
movement implementation in the x and y axes reach 1 m and
0.7 m in sequence. This indicates better FPID hexacopter
guide performance in static and dynamic characteristics.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we successfully derived mathematical
dynamic equation of hexacopter model using Newton-Euler
17
method and designed Fuzzy-PID controller for altitude and
attitude stabilization of Hexacopter under wind disturbance.
Hexacopter UAV, which represents a highly nonlinear and
strongly couple dynamics need excellent static and dynamic
performances. In this result study, we proved on SITL
simulation and implementation that FPID controller, our
proposed control method, has better performance in terms
faster transient response, smaller overshoot, smaller settling
time and smaller error steady state, compared with PID
controller. This controller also successfully make hexacopter
achive desired altitude and attitude angle, solved stability,
accuracy, and robustness under uncertainty and wind
environtment. Finally FPID controller ake Hexacopter UAV
have excellent static and dynamic characteristic.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was partially funded by The Ministry of
Research, Technology and Higher Education, Republic of
Indonesia through the PUSNAS 2017 Program.
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