2018/02/07 by Thomas Stastny, Stastny, Thomas, Roland Siegwart +1
Computer Science · Engineering · #Adaptive Control of Nonlinear Systems #Advanced Control Systems Optimization #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Robotic Path Planning Algorithms #Robotics (cs.RO)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1802.02624
openalex publication_date 2018/02/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
As off-the-shelf (OTS) autopilots become more widely available and\nuser-friendly and the drone market expands, safer, more efficient, and more\ncomplex motion planning and control will become necessary for fixed-wing aerial\nrobotic platforms. Considering typical low-level attitude stabilization\navailable on OTS flight controllers, this paper first develops an approach for\nmodeling and identification of the control augmented dynamics for a small\nfixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A high-level Nonlinear Model\nPredictive Controller (NMPC) is subsequently formulated for simultaneous\nairspeed stabilization, path following, and soft constraint handling, using the\nidentified model for horizon propagation. The approach is explored in several\nexemplary flight experiments including path following of helix and connected\nDubins Aircraft segments in high winds as well as a motor failure scenario. The\ncost function, insights on its weighting, and additional soft constraints used\nthroughout the experimentation are discussed.\n