Automatic Path Planning and Control Design for Autonomous Landing of UAVs using Dynamic Inversion

Singh, Shashiprakash and Padhi, Radhakant (2009) Automatic Path Planning and Control Design for Autonomous Landing of UAVs using Dynamic Inversion. In: American Control Conference 2009, June 10-12, 2009, St Louis, MO, pp. 2409-2414.

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Abstract

In this paper a nonlinear control has been designed using the dynamic inversion approach for automatic landing of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), along with associated path planning. This is a difficult problem because of light weight of UAVs and strong coupling between longitudinal and lateral modes. The landing maneuver of the UAV is divided into approach, glideslope and flare. In the approach UAV aligns with the centerline of the runway by heading angle correction. In glideslope and flare the UAV follows straight line and exponential curves respectively in the pitch plane with no lateral deviations. The glideslope and flare path are scheduled as a function of approach distance from runway. The trajectory parameters are calculated such that the sink rate at touchdown remains within specified bounds. It is also ensured that the transition from the glideslope to flare path is smooth by ensuring C-1 continuity at the transition. In the outer loop, the roll rate command is generated by assuring a coordinated turn in the alignment segment and by assuring zero bank angle in the glideslope and flare segments. The pitch rate command is generated from the error in altitude to control the deviations from the landing trajectory. The yaw rate command is generated from the required heading correction. In the inner loop, the aileron, elevator and rudder deflections are computed together to track the required body rate commands. Moreover, it is also ensured that the forward velocity of the UAV at the touch down remains close to a desired value by manipulating the thrust of the vehicle. A nonlinear six-DOF model, which has been developed from extensive wind-tunnel testing, is used both for control design as well as to validate it.

Item Type:	Conference Paper
Series.:	PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN CONTROL CONFERENCE
Publisher:	IEEE
Additional Information:	Copyright 2009 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.
Keywords:	Autonomous systems, Flight control, Feedback linearization.
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Aerospace Engineering(Formerly Aeronautical Engineering)
Date Deposited:	23 Oct 2009 05:50
Last Modified:	29 Mar 2011 11:14
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/24239

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