From 0fe15801b9ecb6b16013b00da84973d55c20260e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Balduin <balduin@auterion.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:03:14 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Allocator: handle NaN correctly in slew rate

---
 .../control_allocation/ControlAllocation.cpp  | 28 +++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/lib/control_allocation/control_allocation/ControlAllocation.cpp b/src/lib/control_allocation/control_allocation/ControlAllocation.cpp
index b00ec97321..9c804fdde7 100644
--- a/src/lib/control_allocation/control_allocation/ControlAllocation.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/control_allocation/control_allocation/ControlAllocation.cpp
@@ -110,12 +110,35 @@ const
 
 void ControlAllocation::applySlewRateLimit(float dt)
 {
+	// A thrust setpoint of NaN is defined to correspond to switched off
+	// motors. Physically it results in zero thrust, therefore for the
+	// purpose of slew limiting we need to consider NaN equivalent to zero.
+	// But after the slew limiting, we again replace by NaN.
+
+	// We want the slew rate to behave like this on different input transitions:
+	//  - between 0 and NaN: immediately match input
+	//  - nonzero to NaN: sink to zero with slew rate, then replace zero by NaN
+	//  - NaN to nonzero: replace NaN by zero, then rise with slew rate to input
+	//  - between nonzero and 0: slew limit, then match input
+
 	for (int i = 0; i < _num_actuators; i++) {
 		if (_actuator_slew_rate_limit(i) > FLT_EPSILON) {
 
 			float input = _actuator_sp(i);
 			float previous = _prev_actuator_sp(i);
 
+			// Before slew limiting, transform NaN to 0, but remember if the input was NaN
+			const bool input_is_nan = std::isnan(input);
+
+			if (input_is_nan) {
+				input = 0.f;
+			}
+
+			if (std::isnan(previous)) {
+				previous = 0.f;
+			}
+
+			// Slew limit without any NaN involved
 			float delta_sp_max = dt * (_actuator_max(i) - _actuator_min(i)) / _actuator_slew_rate_limit(i);
 			float delta_sp = input - previous;
 
@@ -128,6 +151,11 @@ void ControlAllocation::applySlewRateLimit(float dt)
 				output = previous - delta_sp_max;
 			}
 
+			// Transform back to NaN if appropriate
+			if (input_is_nan && fabsf(output) < FLT_EPSILON) {
+				output = NAN;
+			}
+
 			_actuator_sp(i) = output;
 		}
 	}