System Identification and Parameter Space Control Design for a Small Unmanned Aircraft

Kurzfassung

Initial tests in cooperative control for autonomous landings of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) on a moving car have presented promising results. However, the identification of a high-fidelity simulation model is a step of great importance towards the development of more effective model predictive control strategies, which rely on precise models to allow cooperative control of High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs with autonomous ground vehicles. In this context, this work aims to develop a reliable model for the Penguin BE aircraft used in cooperative landing tests at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and to design a high-performance pitch attitude controller applying the parameter space approach. The system identification procedure has been carried out by applying both, the Output Error and the Two Step methods, and a linear longitudinal model of the aircraft has been developed. Parameter Space Control has been applied to the identified model in order to suggest a set of alternative gains to the ones that are currently in use, which have been fine-tuned in flight, using the Ziegler-Nichols method, which will not be viable in the scope of stratospheric missions.