mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Differential Flatness of Quadrotor Dynamics Subject to Rotor Drag for Accurate Tracking of High-Speed Trajectories

arXiv 1712.02402 ↗First posted 6 Dec 2017cs.ROcited by 28

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Abstract (arXiv)

In this paper, we prove that the dynamical model of a quadrotor subject to linear rotor drag effects is differentially flat in its position and heading. We use this property to compute feed-forward control terms directly from a reference trajectory to be tracked. The obtained feed-forward terms are then used in a cascaded, nonlinear feedback control law that enables accurate agile flight with quadrotors. Compared to state-of-the-art control methods, which treat the rotor drag as an unknown disturbance, our method reduces the trajectory tracking error significantly. Finally, we present a method based on a gradient-free optimization to identify the rotor drag coefficients, which are required to compute the feed-forward control terms. The new theoretical results are thoroughly validated trough extensive comparative experiments.

Key facts. Cited by 28 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 6 Dec 2017.

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 3; 2022: 6; 2023: 4; 2024: 6; 2025: 4; 2026: 5.

28 papers.

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  1. 2022Neural-Fly Enables Rapid Learning for Agile Flight in Strong Windscited by 80
  2. 2022Real-time Neural-MPC: Deep Learning Model Predictive Control for Quadrotors and Agile Robotic Platformscited by 36
  3. 2024Bootstrapping Reinforcement Learning with Imitation for Vision-Based Agile Flightcited by 22
  4. 2022Learning a Single Near-hover Position Controller for Vastly Different Quadcopterscited by 16
  5. 2022Training Efficient Controllers via Analytic Policy Gradientcited by 16
  6. 2021Time-Optimal Planning for Quadrotor Waypoint Flightcited by 14
  7. 2022Learning Perception-Aware Agile Flight in Cluttered Environmentscited by 13
  8. 2024SOUS VIDE: Cooking Visual Drone Navigation Policies in a Gaussian Splatting Vacuumcited by 13
  9. 2023DATT: Deep Adaptive Trajectory Tracking for Quadrotor Controlcited by 11
  10. 2024What Matters in Learning A Zero-Shot Sim-to-Real RL Policy for Quadrotor Control? A Comprehensive Studycited by 9
  11. 2021Meta-Learning-Based Robust Adaptive Flight Control Under Uncertain Wind Conditionscited by 8
  12. 2024Feedback Favors the Generalization of Neural ODEscited by 8
16 more
  1. 2023Constrained Reinforcement Learning using Distributional Representation for Trustworthy Quadrotor UAV Tracking Controlcited by 5
  2. 2021Robust Navigation for Racing Drones based on Imitation Learning and Modularizationcited by 4
  3. 2025Leveling the Playing Field: Carefully Comparing Classical and Learned Controllers for Quadrotor Trajectory Trackingcited by 4
  4. 2024Dashing for the Golden Snitch: Multi-Drone Time-Optimal Motion Planning with Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 3
  5. 2023FLEX: an Adaptive Exploration Algorithm for Nonlinear Systemscited by 2
  6. 2025Automatic Generation of Aerobatic Flight in Complex Environments via Diffusion Modelscited by 2
  7. 2022Interpretable Stochastic Model Predictive Control using Distributional Reinforced Estimation for Quadrotor Tracking Systemscited by 1
  8. 2024Why Change Your Controller When You Can Change Your Planner: Drag-Aware Trajectory Generation for Quadrotor Systemscited by 1
  9. 2025PI-WAN: A Physics-Informed Wind-Adaptive Network for Quadrotor Dynamics Prediction in Unknown Environmentscited by 1
  10. 2023Safe Online Dynamics Learning with Initially Unknown Models and Infeasible Safety Certificatescited by 0
  11. 2025Learned Controllers for Agile Quadrotors in Pursuit-Evasion Gamescited by 0
  12. 2026Online parameter estimation for the Crazyflie quadcopter through an EM algorithmcited by 0
  13. 2026Don't Fool Me Twice: Adapting to Adversity in the Wild with Experience-Driven Reasoningcited by 0
  14. 2026From Distances to Trajectories: Real-Time Signed Distance Function Mapping and Distance-Accelerated Motion Planning for UAVscited by 0
  15. 2026Learning to Fly: Stable Vision-Guided UAV Servoing with Compact Target-Centric Cues and Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
  16. 2026Conflict-Predictive Variable Horizons in Multi-Drone Distributed Model Predictive Controlcited by 0