Integrated guidance and control framework for the waypoint navigation of a miniature aircraft with highly coupled longitudinal and lateral dynamics
This addresses navigation challenges for miniature aircraft with coupled dynamics, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing integrated guidance and control methods.
The paper tackles waypoint navigation for fixed-wing micro air vehicles by developing an integrated guidance and control framework that combines pure proportional navigation with multivariable static output feedback, handling minimum turn radius constraints and waypoint feasibility. Extensive simulations on a high-fidelity 150 mm wingspan model demonstrate the algorithm's potential advantages.
A solution to the waypoint navigation problem for fixed wing micro air vehicles (MAV) is addressed in this paper, in the framework of integrated guidance and control (IGC). IGC yields a single step solution to the waypoint navigation problem, unlike conventional multiple loop design. The pure proportional navigation (PPN) guidance law is integrated with the MAV dynamics. A multivariable static output feedback (SOF) controller is designed for the linear state space model formulated in the IGC framework. The waypoint navigation algorithm handles the minimum turn radius constraint of the MAV. The algorithm also evaluates the feasibility of reaching a waypoint. Extensive non-linear simulations are performed on high fidelity 150 mm wingspan MAV model to demonstrate the potential advantages of the proposed waypoint navigation algorithm.