Rope-Hook Recovery Controller Designed for a Flying-Wing UAV

Abstract

Due to the complexity of landing environments, precision guidance and high-precision control technology have become key to the rope-hook recovery of shipborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The recovery process was divided into three stages and a reasonable guidance strategy had been designed for them, respectively. This study separated the guidance and control issues into an outer guidance loop and an inner control loop. The inner loop (attitude control loop) controled the UAV to follow the acceleration commands generated by the outer loop (trajectory tracking loop). The inner loop of the longitudinal controller and the lateral controller were designed based on active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), which has strong anti-interference ability. In the last phase, the outer loop of the longitudinal controller switched from a total energy control system (TECS), which greatly decoupled the altitude channel and speed channel, to the proportional navigation (PN) guidance law, while the outer loop of lateral controller switches from the proportional control law based on the L1 guidance law, which can reduce the tracking error and deviation, to the PN guidance law, which considerably enhances the tracking precision. Finally, the simulation data and flight test data show that the controller has strong robustness and good tracking precision, which ensures safe rope-hook recovery.

A UAV Autonomous Landing System Integrating Locating, Tracking, and Landing in the Wild Environment

“…In [2], a longitudinal guidance law of visual-based net-recovery for UAVs was developed, which made the drone arrive at the recovery net accurately only by relying on the camera and visual processor. Deng et al [3] designed a UAV rope hook recovery control strategy with three stages, and the robustness and accuracy of the controller were proved through simulations and experiments. Moreover, the parachute is also a common method for drone recovery [4].…”

Performance Analysis and Design of Direct Ammonia Fuel Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell for Shipborne Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

“…In recent years, the global focus on sustainable development has increased, resulting in a growing demand for carbon-neutral technologies [1]. The development of efficient and clean power systems is not only crucial for shipborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but also a key component of transitioning towards a low-carbon economy [2]. Moreover, the availability and sustainability of fuel sources are critical factors in determining the feasibility and long-term viability of a power system for shipborne UAVs [3].…”