Reinhardt, Dirk (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Johansen, Tor Arne (Norweigian Univ. Of Sci. & Tech.)

Nonlinear Model Predictive Attitude Control for Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle based on a Wind Frame Formulation

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "Control Architectures III" (WeC4), Wednesday, June 12, 2019, 17:00−17:20, Savannah

2020 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), June 11-14, 2019, Athens, Greece

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on April 19, 2024

Abstract

Exploiting the physical limitations on the maneuvrability of a fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and simultaneously respecting its flight envelope and actuator constraints is a demanding task for which Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) is well-suited. This paper presents an NMPC for attitude control of a fixed-wing UAV which is based on the vehicle model in a wind frame formulation and includes critical flight variables such as relative speed and angle of attack in its control objective and constraint formulation. The proposed controller is evaluated in a simulation study and compared against a set of conventional PID Controllers.