Autonomous Aileron Roll Control for Miniature Air Vehicles
James K. Hall, Justin K. Mason · Infotech@Aerospace 2012 · 2012
As miniature air vehicles (MAVs) proliferate in various optical surveillance missions, the ability to autonomously avoid obstacles in the flight path using aerobatic maneuvering becomes more desirable. A basic aerobatic flight maneuver from which other maneuvers can be derived is the aileron roll. The aileron roll maneuver can be executed using a time-parametrized attitude trajectory generation algorithm in conjunction with an associated attitude tracking control law. Additionally, by accounting for actual angle of attack of the MAV, the deviation from the initial flight path during an aileron roll maneuver can be decreased. However, to be successful, an attitude-based switching logic must be implemented in the control law to account for the arc-tangent range being undefined between for angles greater than 90 degrees causing control reversal during the inverted portion of the maneuver. The performance of our control algorithm during aileron roll maneuvers is demonstrated through computer flight simulations and flight tests.