Nonlinear control of fixed-wing UAVs in presence of stochastic winds

Abstract

This paper studies the control of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the presence of stochastic winds. A nonlinear controller is designed based on a full nonlinear mathematical model that includes the stochastic wind effects. The air velocity is controlled exclusively using the position of the throttle, and the rest of the dynamics are controlled with the aileron, elevator, and rudder deflections. The nonlinear control design is based on a smooth approximation of a sliding mode controller. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is proposed for the state estimation and filtering. A case study is presented: landing control of a UAV on a ship deck in the presence of wind based exclusively on LADAR measurements. The effectiveness of the nonlinear control algorithm is illustrated through a simulation example.