Keywords

UAS, unmanned aircraft path following, wind disturbance rejection

Abstract

In this paper, a method for accurate path following for miniature air vehicles is developed. The method is based on the notion of vector fields, which are used to generate desired course inputs to inner-loop attitude control laws. Vector-field path-following control laws are developed for straight-line paths and circular arcs and orbits. Lyapunov stability arguments are used to demonstrate asymptotic decay of path-following errors in the presence of constant wind disturbances. Experimental flight tests have demonstrated mean path-following errors on less than one wingspan for straight-line and orbit paths and less than three wingspans for paths with frequent changes in direction.

Original Publication Citation

Nelson, D., Barber, B., McLain, T., and Beard, R. Vector Field Path Following for Miniature Air Vehicles, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 519-529, June 2007.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2007-06-25

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/3855

Publisher

IEEE

Language

English

College

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

Department

Mechanical Engineering

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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