Development of a fixed-wing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft as an autonomous vehicle

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with different configurations exist to supply requirements for diverse applications. One of them is the tailsitter that gathers complementary advantages from Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) and fixed-wing UAVs. In this paper, we present a new design of a tailsitter UAV, named AVALON (Autonomous VerticAL takeOff and laNding). This UAV is composed of typical actuators and is independent of auxiliary infrastructure for vertical takeoff and landing. An autopilot for the tracking control problem of the AVALON vehicle is also proposed to maintain the aircraft in predefined conditions during all flight stages. Simulations results based on the AVALON equations of motion showed that the control techniques applied to all flight stages enable its use as an UAV platform successfully.