Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T19:03:42.289Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On-ground lateral direction control for an unswept flying-wing UAV

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2019

Z. Y. Ma
Affiliation:
School of Astronautics, Science and Technology on UAV Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
X. P. Zhu
Affiliation:
Science and Technology on UAV Laboratory, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Z. Zhou*
Affiliation:
School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China

Abstract

To solve the on-ground lateral direction control problem of the unswept flying-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) without rudder, steering system or breaking system, a control approach which uses differential propeller thrust to control the lateral direction is proposed. First, a mathematical model of the unswept flying-wing UAV on-ground moving is established. Second, based on the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) theory, a yaw angle controller is designed by using the differential propeller thrust as the control output. Finally, a straight line trajectory tracking control law is designed by improving the vector field path following method. Experiment results show that the proposed control laws have a shorter response time, better robustness and better control precision compared with proportional integral derivative (PID) controller. The proposed controller has small computational complexity, simple parameter setting process, and uses practical measurable physical quantities, providing a reference solution for further engineering applications.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Royal Aeronautical Society 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Flittie, K. and Curtin, B. Pathfinder solar-powered aircraft flight performance, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Conference, AIAA, August 1998, Boston, MA, USA, pp 618–632.Google Scholar
2. Colella, N.J. and Wenneker, G.S. Pathfinder. Developing a solar rechargeable aircraft, IEEE Potentials, 1996, 15, (1), pp 1823.Google Scholar
3. Noll, T.E., Brown, J.M. and Perez-Davis, M.E. Investigation of the Helios Prototype Aircraft Mishap Volume I Mishap Report, NASA, 2004.Google Scholar
4. Ehernberger, L.J., Donohue, C. and Teets, E.H. A review of solar-powered aircraft flight activity at the Pacific missile range test facility, Kauai, Hawaii, Extended Abstracts, 2004.Google Scholar
5. Zhang, Y. and Duan, H. A directional control system for UCAV automatic takeoff roll, Aircr Engineering & Aerospace Technology, 2013, 85, (1), pp 4861.Google Scholar
6. Lemay, D., Chamaillard, Y. and Basset, M. Gain-scheduled yaw control for aircraft ground taxiing, IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 2011, 44, (1), pp 12970–12975.Google Scholar
7. Chen, B.H., Jiao, Z.X. and Shuzhi, S.G. Aircraft-on-ground path following control by dynamical adaptive backstepping, Chinese J Aeronautics, 2013, 26, (3), pp 668675.Google Scholar
8. Re, F. Modelica landing gear modelling and on-ground trajectory tracking with sliding mode control, 1st CEAS Specialist Conference on Guidance, Navigation and Control, AIAA & CEAS, April 2011, pp 103115.Google Scholar
9. Biannic, J., Marcos, A. and Jeanneau, M. Nonlinear simplified LFT modelling of an aircraft on ground, 2006 IEEE International Conference on Control Application, 2006, pp 2213–2218.Google Scholar
10. Han, J. From PID to active disturbance rejection control, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 2009, 56, (3), pp 900906.Google Scholar
11. Gao, Z. Active disturbance rejection control: a paradigm shift in feedback control system design, American Control Conference, IEEE, June 1998, pp 2399–2405.Google Scholar
12. Peng, C., Tian, Y.T. and Gong, X. ADRC trajectory tracking control based on PSO algorithm for a quad-rotor, IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications, IEEE, June 2013, pp 800805.Google Scholar
13. Fu, C., Tian, Y.T. and Peng, C. Path tracking control for eight-rotor aircraft based on linear ADRC algorithm, IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications, IEEE, June 2016, pp 21472152.Google Scholar
14. Wang, X., Kong, W. and Zhang, D. Active disturbance rejection controller for small fixed-wing UAVs with model uncertainty, IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation, 2015, pp 2299–2304.Google Scholar
15. Xingling, S. and Honglun, W. Back-stepping active disturbance rejection control design for integrated missile guidance and control system via reduced-order ESO, Isa Transactions, 2015, 57, (4), pp 1022.Google Scholar
16. Xia, Y., Pu, F. and Li, S. Lateral path tracking control of autonomous land vehicle based on ADRC and differential flatness, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 2016, 63, (5), pp 30913099.Google Scholar
17. Beard, R.W. and Mclain, T.W. Small Unmanned Aircraft: Theory and Practice, 2012, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, US.Google Scholar
18. Nelson, D.R., Barber, D.B. and Mclain, T.W. Vector field path following for miniature air vehicles, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2007, 23, (3), pp 519529.Google Scholar
19. Sujit, P., Saripalli, S. and Sousa, J.B. Unmanned aerial vehicle path following: a survey and analysis of algorithms for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, IEEE Control Systems, 2014, 34, (1), pp 4259.Google Scholar