Simple Tracking Controllers for Autonomous VTOL Aircraft With Bounded Inputs

• Published in: IEEE transactions on automatic control Vol. 55; no. 3; pp. 737 - 743
• Main Author: Ailon, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.03.2010; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aerospace control; Aircraft; Applied sciences; Asymptotic properties; Bounded input; Computer science; control theory; systems; Control systems; Control theory. Systems; Controllers; Delay estimation; Exact sciences and technology; global stability; Landing; Linear matrix inequalities; Linear systems; Real time; semiglobal stability; Stability; State estimation; Stochastic processes; Stochastic systems; Tracking; trajectory tracking; vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft; Vertical takeoff; VTOL aircraft; Set point; semiglobal stability; STOL craft; Tracking; Position control; global stability; Real time; Modeling; Real time system; trajectory tracking; Closed feedback; Time varying system; Unmanned aerial vehicle; VTOL aircraft; Smooth function; Global stabilization; vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft; Tracking(movable target); Asymptotic approximation; Non linear effect; Motion control; Bounded input
• ISSN: 0018-9286; 1558-2523
• DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2010.2040493

This note presents simple controllers for achieving asymptotic trajectory (set-point and time-varying) tracking under the conditions of restricted input in vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Unlike previous studies that apply nonlinear combination of saturated functions for stabilizing the closed-loop system, the proposed controllers are based on smooth functions that can easily be implemented in real time applications.