Design and Control of a Quadrotor for SLAM Applications

Abstract

This project presents the design and implementation of an autonomous quadrotor system for Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (V-SLAM). We use a quaternion-based dynamic model with cascaded P-PID control implemented on both Pixhawk 4 Mini (QAV250 configura- tion) and Pixhawk 2.4.8 (X500 configuration) flight controllers. The ORB-SLAM3 algorithm is deployed on a Jetson Orin Nano using an Intel RealSense D435 camera, supporting both stereo and RGB-D modes, with real-time performance evaluation in ROS. The system’s theoretical foundations, practical implementation challenges, and experimental validation are thoroughly examined.