UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (AAE484)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Control

Design
Department of Aeronautical and
Astronautical Engineering
Kwara State University

March, 2015

UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (AAE484)

Lecture Concepts
1. Linear Design

Model
1. Review of nonlinear
2.
3.
4.
5.

Equations
Coordinated turn
Trim conditions
Transfer function
models
Linear state space
models

2. Autopilot Design 3. Introduction to

1. Successive loop
2.

3.
4.
5.

closure
Saturation
constraint and
performance
Lateral directional
autopilot
Longitudinal
autopilot
Implementation

Nonlinear Control
Methods

1. Nonlinear Dynamic
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Inversion
Gain Scheduling Techniques
H-infinity Methods
Sliding mode Control
Model Predictive adaptive
Control
Trajectory Linearisation
Control

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Preliminaries
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Control Design Concepts

Control is the engineering discipline that applies control theory

to design systems with desired behaviours.

Generally, sensors are used to measure the output

performance and those measurements are used to give

feedback to input actuators
Control design is divided into:
Linear or Classical Methods
Nonlinear or Modern Methods
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Linear or Classical Control Methods

Linear control theory applies to systems which obey the superposition

principle which means roughly that the output is proportional to the input
They are governed by linear differential Equations
A major group of linear system is the Linear Time Invariant (LTI) System
Methods used include: Laplace Transform, Z Transform, Root locus, Bode

Plot, Nyquist Stability Criterion etc.

The system can be described using: Bandwidth, gain, poles, zeros

eigenvalues
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Nonlinear or Modern Control Methods

Nonlinear Control theory covers systems that do not obey

superimposition principle.
They are governed by nonlinear differential equations
Methods used include: Describing functions, perturbation

theory, Lyapunov stability theorem etc.

Adaptive and Robust Control fall under this group

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Introduction to
Nonlinear
Control Methods
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Nonlinear/Modern Control Methods

Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion
Inverting the system output to get the input eg. For a system x_dot = A*x + B*u inversion

gives u = B-1 *(x_dot A*x) where x_dot can be replaced with a gain
Gain Scheduling Techniques
Linearizing along the trajectory of operation and developing various controller for various points

H-infinity Methods
Based on mathematical optimisation

Sliding mode Control

It is based on altering the dynamics of a system by application of a discontinuous control signal

that causes the system to slide

Model Predictive Adaptive Control
Trajectory Linearisation Control
Combines NDI with Eigenstructrual Assignment for control error
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Autopilot Design
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Autopilot Design
In general terms, an autopilot is a system used to guide an aircraft without the

assistance of a pilot
For manned aircraft, the autopilot can be as simple as a single-axis wing-leveling

autopilot, or as complicated as a full flight control system that controls position

(altitude, latitude, longitude) and attitude (roll, pitch, yaw) during the various phases
of flight (e.g., take-off, ascent, level flight, descent, approach, landing)
For UAVs, the autopilot is in complete control of the aircraft during all phases of flight
While it is normal for some control functions to reside in the ground control station,

the autopilot portion of the UAV control system resides on board the UAV.

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Successive Loop Closure

The primary goal in autopilot design is to control the inertial position (pn,

pe , h) and attitude (, , ) of the UAV. Formost flight maneuvers of

interest, autopilots designed on the assumption of decoupled dynamics
yield good performance. In the discussion that follows, we will assume that
the longitudinal dynamics (forward speed, pitching, climbing/descending
motions) are decoupled from the lateral dynamics (rolling, yawing
motions). This simplifies the development of the autopilot significantly and
allows us to utilize a technique commonly used for autopilot design called
successive loop closure.
The basic idea behind successive loop closure is to close several simple
feedback loops in succession around the open-loop plant dynamics rather
than designing a single (presumably more complicated) control system. To
illustrate how this approach can be applied,
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Linear Design
Model
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Review of 6-DOF Equation of Motion

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Review of 6-DOF Equation of Motion

{Gravitational Force}
{Propulsive Force}

{Aerodynamic Force}

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Review of 6-DOF Equation of Motion

{Gravitational Torque}

{Propulsive Torque}

{Aerodynamic Torque}

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