Automated landing of an intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle in crosswind conditions using total energy control
Date
2014-12-10
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Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This paper presents the development, implementation
and verification of a flight control system for the automated
landing of an intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in
crosswind conditions.
There is an increasing number of commercial opportunities
for UAVs in business, agriculture, industry and mining, the
emergency services and security services. The major barrier to
commercialisation of UAVs is the certification process, where
automated take-off and landing is a key feature required.
The automated landing system presented in this paper uses a
longitudinal control system based on the total energy control
system (TECS), and a lateral control system that combines
a heading and guidance controller with a cross-track error
controller. A software state machine is used to advance the flight
control system through the different stages of the automated
landing. The TECS architecture allows the airspeed and flight
path angle to be decoupled, while the Cross-Track Controller
uses a limited integrator to drive the cross-track error to zero
in the presence of crosswind.
The automated landing system is implemented on a UAV with
an on-board computer, sensors and actuators, and is verified
in simulation and with practical flight tests. The hardware
simulation results show that the UAV is able to land autonomously
in crosswinds up to 3.6 metres per second, with a landing
accuracy of 3.50 metre in-track and 0.12 metre cross-track.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar
Description
Please cite as follows:
Le Roux, C. T. & Engelbrecht, J. A. A. 2014. Automated landing of an intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle in crosswind conditions using total energy control, in Proceedings of the First International Conference on the use of Mobile Informations and Communication Technology (ICT) in Africa UMICTA 2014, 9-10 December 2014, STIAS Conference Centre, Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, South Africa, ISBN: 978-0-7972-1533-7.
The conference is available at http://mtn.sun.ac.za/conference2014/
See also the record http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/95703
Le Roux, C. T. & Engelbrecht, J. A. A. 2014. Automated landing of an intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle in crosswind conditions using total energy control, in Proceedings of the First International Conference on the use of Mobile Informations and Communication Technology (ICT) in Africa UMICTA 2014, 9-10 December 2014, STIAS Conference Centre, Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, South Africa, ISBN: 978-0-7972-1533-7.
The conference is available at http://mtn.sun.ac.za/conference2014/
See also the record http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/95703
Keywords
Airplanes -- Control systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Automated landing