An integrated tool to compute the dynamic model and assess the lateral controller parameters of a UAV equipped with a Piccolo autopilot
Roque Ferreira, Tiago Oliveira, Sílvia Chá · 2020
This paper presents a new computational tool that allows to estimate a mathematical model of a given Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with a Piccolo autopilot, and subsequently, assess its lateral controller parameters, in order to tune the desired response of the closed-loop system. It starts by presenting an estimate of the Piccolo autopilot's lateral control laws (which are not provided by the manufacturer), by updating those proposed in the literature. Then, a mathematical model of the ANTEX-X02 Alfa 07 UAV is derived and validated using flight test results. Finally, our proposed computational tool is outlined, and a new set of controller gains is computed. Real-world flight test results presents a 53% reduction on the rise time and a decrease of 65% on the settling time to reach a desired bank command, when compared to the standard autopilot gains. Moreover, for a standard flight plan, the signal tracking delay between the reference command and the UAV's attitude was reduced by 62%. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed tool.