Flight path control of small unmanned air vehicle

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, a path following control system for a small and light unmanned air vehicle (UAV), called Kiteplane, was proposed. The aircraft contains a large delta‐shaped main wing and exhibits stable flying dynamics. Because of this feature, a simple proportional integral differential control method could be implemented since attitude control to stabilize the motion was not needed. Devices installed on board the aircraft were developed for the autopilot system and the proposed control method was implemented. Results of numerical simulations and experiments showed the effectiveness of the approach. This paper also provides an algorithm for using the aircraft to estimate wind direction based on Kiteplane dynamics under the wind effect. A numerical estimation method was proposed and it was implemented on the autopilot system. The experimental results also supported the proposed wind estimating method. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.