Auto-Landing of Moving-Mass Actuated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Based on Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control

Abstract

Unlike the roll motion of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) controlled by the ailerons, the moving-mass actuated unmanned aerial vehicle (MAUAV) uses the motion of the mass block inside the wing to generate the roll moment. The light weight and severe coupling of lateral and longitudinal motion of this type of small UAV make its landing control a challenging task. Considering the above problems, the dynamic models of MAUAV are first established. Then, forward velocity, altitude, attitude, and moving-mass position controllers are designed separately to make the MAUAV track a given path during the landing process. Linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC) is introduced in the design process of all four controllers, compensating for unknown disturbances in the system. Simulation results show that the proposed control scheme can achieve fast and accurate tracking of forward velocity and flight trajectory commands with good robustness to model uncertainties.