Development of computer aided tools for UAV flight control

Abstract

Proper design of the flight controller of an unconventional unmanned aerial vehicle requires highly stable performance, as well as reliable computer aided tools. Such tools provide simulation process that is based on classical control design. This paper describes the development of flight control design and simulation process, which can be applied to vehicles of a wide range of classes. The design process is based on single input/single output flight dynamics modeling and simulation using Matlab/Simulink, Visual C# dotNet and Microsoft Flight Simulator on a local area network environment. The proposed tool provides solution of flight dynamics that can be used by designers of parameterized vehicle UAV models and offers efficient simulation means for specific use cases. SAHIL program is intended as a simulator used for tuning the controller parameters in linear flight control for the SK1 vehicle. Thereby, it gives requirements for controller, simulation and analysis as computational design criteria. It facilitates successful testing of the design via simulation process to achieve high performance UAV controller design. The use of flight simulation tools greatly reduces the risk as well as the required amount of flight tests, particularly in complex and dense aerospace situations, which is a well-recognized benefit of such approaches.