<p>After reading relevant materials, i think I have find the answers for this question.</p>
<p>Q1:Since AR drone2 is a proprietary system,  this company didn't publish any documentation about the internal structure.</p>
<p>Q2:According to my understanding and guess, the controllers will use the estimated states of AR drone2 and the estimated states may from EKF(I am not 100% sure)</p>
<p>Q3:Since AR drone2 is a proprietary system, it seems there is no way you can control the motors directly by using your own controllers. But there is an alternative way:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/49921-natural-point-motive-optitrack-api-interface-to-matlab-and-simulink-64bit-by-or-hirshfeld?s_tid=srchtitle" rel="nofollow noreferrer">using Simulink and Optitrack to control AR Drone</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/59177-control-ar-drone-parrot-2-0-with-matlab-2015a-and-vicon?s_tid=srchtitle" rel="nofollow noreferrer">using Simulink and Vicon to control AR Drone</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-05T14:13:06.863Z
2021-04-05T14:13:06.863Z
DarkKnight
<p>I have a few questions about Parrot AR drone 2. <a href="https://support.parrot.com/us/support/products/parrot-ar-drone-2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here is the official website</a></p>
<p>Q1:What are the controllers for the AR drone 2? Is there a position controller (GPS), velocity controller (accelerometer), attitude controller, heading controller (compass), and/or altitude controller (barometer) in the microchip of AR drone 2?</p>
<p>Q2:If there are some of the controllers that I mentioned above, and these controllers may need the current states for feedback control purpose, do the current states form the estimation based on IMU data?</p>
<p>To be more specific, if there is a PID position controller, we need the desired position and current position information for feedback controlling. Is the current position from the estimation algorithm (like EKF) based on IMU sensor data?</p>
<p>Q3:Is there any way that I can control the motor speed for AR drone 2 directly and use my own controllers?</p>
<p>any suggestions and comments would be helpful! Thanks in advance!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-16T17:58:41.083Z
Welcome to the forum! :) In all honesty, though, I'm not sure how any of us would know much about the internal control system of the Parrot AR drone. It's a proprietary system, so I'm pretty sure there won't be any publically available documentation.
ifconfig
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-17T03:43:11.060Z
Thank you for your reply. If we cannot know the internal controllers, could we use  controllers designed by ourselves to control the motor speed directly ?
DarkKnight
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-17T03:51:29.707Z
Likely not. I don't think Parrot uses the same kind of control links that we do for our custom drones.
ifconfig
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-17T05:18:52.450Z
sounds reasonable. But I will keep dig and update what I have learned under this question.
DarkKnight
<hardware><flight-controller><electronics><sensor>
What are controllers of Parrot AR drone 2?
DarkKnight
# What are controllers of Parrot AR drone 2?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-03-16)

I have a few questions about Parrot AR drone 2. [Here is the official website](https://support.parrot.com/us/support/products/parrot-ar-drone-2)

Q1:What are the controllers for the AR drone 2? Is there a position controller (GPS), velocity controller (accelerometer), attitude controller, heading controller (compass), and/or altitude controller (barometer) in the microchip of AR drone 2?

Q2:If there are some of the controllers that I mentioned above, and these controllers may need the current states for feedback control purpose, do the current states form the estimation based on IMU data?

To be more specific, if there is a PID position controller, we need the desired position and current position information for feedback controlling. Is the current position from the estimation algorithm (like EKF) based on IMU sensor data?

Q3:Is there any way that I can control the motor speed for AR drone 2 directly and use my own controllers?

any suggestions and comments would be helpful! Thanks in advance!

**Tags:** hardware, flight-controller, electronics, sensor
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to the forum! :) In all honesty, though, I'm not sure how any of us would know much about the internal control system of the Parrot AR drone. It's a proprietary system, so I'm pretty sure there won't be any publically available documentation.  
> **username_0**: Thank you for your reply. If we cannot know the internal controllers, could we use  controllers designed by ourselves to control the motor speed directly ?  
> **username_1**: Likely not. I don't think Parrot uses the same kind of control links that we do for our custom drones.  
> **username_0**: sounds reasonable. But I will keep dig and update what I have learned under this question.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2021-04-05. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

After reading relevant materials, i think I have find the answers for this question.

Q1:Since AR drone2 is a proprietary system, this company didn't publish any documentation about the internal structure.

Q2:According to my understanding and guess, the controllers will use the estimated states of AR drone2 and the estimated states may from EKF(I am not 100% sure)

Q3:Since AR drone2 is a proprietary system, it seems there is no way you can control the motors directly by using your own controllers. But there is an alternative way:

[using Simulink and Optitrack to control AR Drone](https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/49921-natural-point-motive-optitrack-api-interface-to-matlab-and-simulink-64bit-by-or-hirshfeld?s_tid=srchtitle)

[using Simulink and Vicon to control AR Drone](https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/59177-control-ar-drone-parrot-2-0-with-matlab-2015a-and-vicon?s_tid=srchtitle)


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