A Lateral-Directional Control Method for High Aspect Ratio Full-Wing UAV and Flight Tests

Abstract

To solve the lateral-directional control problem of the high aspect ratio full-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) without an aileron and rudder, a control method is proposed that uses the differential thrust of propellers as the control output and the yaw angle as the controlled attitude angle. Meanwhile, simulation analysis and experimental verification are carried out. First, a lateral-direction mathematical model and a differential thrust of propeller model of the full-wing drone are established. The influence of the aerodynamic derivative C Y β on the lateral-direction mode is analyzed. Second, based on nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI) and active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) theories, a yaw angle controller that uses the differential thrust of propellers as the control output is designed. Finally, the vector field (VF) method is improved to obtain the straight-line trajectory tracking method satisfying different speeds, and the logic of waypoint switching is given. The research shows that C Y β has a great influence on the dutch roll damping of the drone. For the full-wing configuration, it is feasible to use the yaw angle as the controlled attitude angle without considering the roll angle. The simulation and experimental results show that the designed lateral-directional control method for the high aspect ratio full-wing UAV has a good control effect and disturbance rejection ability. Meanwhile, the control method has less parameters to adjust and less calculation, which is very suitable for engineering applications.

Special Issue on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

“…There are eight papers focused on UAV control technology [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. S. Sato, H. Yokoyama, and A. Lida present plasma actuators were introduced to simplify the complex feathering motion and to control the flow around insect's flapping wings having simplified sinusoidal motion [3].…”

“…A. T. Nguyen, N. Xuan-Mung, and S. Hong present a step by step empirical processes for the adaptive trajectory tracking control of SUAV, in particular, by using the Euler-Lagrange based backstepping control technique [6]. Z. Ma, X. Zhu, Z. Zhou, X. Zou, and X. Zhao present a lateral-directional control method for the high aspect ratio full-wing UAV without any aileron and rudder using the differential thrust of propellers as the control output and the yaw angle as the controlled attitude angle [7]. H. Chuang, D. He, and A. Namiki present a direct visual servoing system for the UAV using a single onboard high-speed monocular camera to accomplish the autonomous flight in GPS denied area [8].…”