Related papers: Autonomous Control for Orographic Soaring of Fixed…
Dynamic soaring is a flying technique to exploit the energy available in wind shear layers, enabling potentially unlimited flight without the need for internal energy sources. We propose a framework for autonomous dynamic soaring with a…
Utilizing wind hovering techniques of soaring birds can save energy expenditure and improve the flight endurance of micro air vehicles (MAVs). Here, we present a novel method for fully autonomous orographic soaring without a priori…
This paper presents a nonlinear control law for the stabilization of a fixed-wing UAV. Such controller solves the path-following problem and the longitudinal control problem in a single control. Furthermore, the control design is performed…
This paper investigates the position-tracking control problem for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with a turbojet engine via an integrated flight and propulsion control scheme. To this end, a hierarchical control…
A control design approach to achieve fully autonomous take-off and flight maneuvers with a tethered aircraft is presented and demonstrated in real-world flight tests with a small-scale prototype. A ground station equipped with a controlled…
As off-the-shelf (OTS) autopilots become more widely available and user-friendly and the drone market expands, safer, more efficient, and more complex motion planning and control will become necessary for fixed-wing aerial robotic…
Orographic soaring can significantly extend the endurance of micro aerial vehicles (MAVs), but circling behavior, arising from control conflicts between the longitudinal and vertical axes, increases energy consumption and the risk of…
The recent years have witnessed increased development of small, autonomous fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). In order to unlock widespread applicability of these platforms, they need to be capable of operating under a variety of…
The autonomous operation of flexible-wing aircraft is technically challenging and has never been presented within literature. The lack of an exact modeling framework is due to the complex nonlinear aerodynamic relationships governed by the…
This paper considers a collaborative tracking control problem using a group of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with constant and non-identical speeds. The dynamics of fixed-wing UAVs are modelled by unicycle-type equations with…
This paper presents the development of a comprehensive dynamics and stabilizing control architecture for Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) systems. The proposed architecture integrates both onboard and ground-based controllers,…
Thermal soaring saves much energy, but flying large distances in this form represents a great challenge for birds, people and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The solution is to make use of so-called thermals, which are localized, warmer…
We introduce FalconWing, an ultra-light (150 g) indoor fixed-wing UAV platform for vision-based autonomy. Controlled indoor environment enables year-round repeatable UAV experiment but imposes strict weight and maneuverability limits on the…
Contemporary autopilot systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are far more limited in their flight envelope as compared to experienced human pilots, thereby restricting the conditions UAVs can operate in and the types of missions they…
Fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer significant performance advantages over rotary-wing UAVs in terms of speed, endurance, and efficiency. However, these vehicles have traditionally been severely limited with regards to…
In this paper the problem of guidance formulation for autonomous soft landing of unmanned aerial vehicles on stationary, moving, or accelerating / maneuvering ground vehicles at desired approach angles in both azimuth and elevation is…
The problem of autonomous launch and landing of a tethered rigid aircraft for airborne wind energy generation is addressed. The system operates with ground-based power conversion and pumping cycles, where the tether is repeatedly reeled in…
Gliding offers small fixed-wing UAVs extended endurance and silent operation but requires accurate energy management, especially under wind disturbances and obstacle constraints. Traditional Total Energy Control Systems based controllers…
Hybrid unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) integrate the efficient forward flight of fixed-wing and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities of multicopter UAVs. This paper presents the modeling, control and simulation of a new type of…
With UAVs promising capabilities to increase operation flexibility and reduce mission cost, we are exploiting the automated carrier-landing performance advancement that can be achieved by fixed-wing UAVs. To demonstrate such potentials, in…