Towards Robust Optimization-Based Autonomous Dynamic Soaring with a Fixed-Wing UAV
For UAV researchers, this work provides a robust control framework enabling autonomous dynamic soaring, but it is incremental as it combines existing methods with robustness enhancements.
The paper proposes a framework for autonomous dynamic soaring with a fixed-wing UAV, using explicit wind field representation and robust path following to handle estimation errors. Real flight tests and simulations demonstrate robust path-following and dynamic soaring under varied wind conditions and disturbances.
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 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The framework makes use of an explicit representation of the wind field and a classical approach for guidance and control of the UAV. Robustness to wind field estimation error is achieved by constructing point-wise robust reference paths for dynamic soaring and the development of a robust path following controller for the fixed-wing UAV. Wind estimation and path tracking performance are validated with real flight tests to demonstrate robust path-following in real wind conditions. In simulation, we demonstrate robust dynamic soaring flight subject to varied wind conditions, estimation errors and disturbances. Together, our results strongly indicate the ability of the proposed framework to achieve autonomous dynamic soaring flight in wind shear.