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Passivity-Based Control of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

Energy-shaping techniques are used to expand the range of autonomous motion of unmanned aerial systems without prohibitively {color{black}increasing the computational cost of the resultant controller}. Passivity-based control presents a method to implement a static, nonlinear state feedback control law that stabilizes the motion of an aircraft with a large region of attraction. {color{black} The energy-based control scheme is applied to both multirotor and fixed-wing aircraft}. Multirotor aircraft dynamics are cast into a port-Hamiltonian System and the concept of trajectory tracking using canonical feedback transformation is implemented to construct a cross-track controller. Fixed-wing aircraft dynamics are cast in port-Hamiltonian form and a passivity-based nonlinear control law for steady, wings-level flight of a fixed-wing aircraft to a specified inertial velocity (speed, course, and climb angle) is constructed. Results in simulations and experiments suggest robustness, and a large region of attraction of the controller. The control law extended to support time-varying inertial velocity tracking that incorporates banking to turn. The results are extended by including a line-of-sight guidance law and varying the direction as a function of position relative to a desired path, rather than as a function of time. The control law and the associated proof of stability follow similarly to that of the time-varying directional stabilization problem. The results are supported with simulations as well as experimental flight tests. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation presents an alternative but intuitive approach to regulate unmanned aerial vehicles' flight that would allow for more maneuverability {color{black} than conventional methods}. This scheme relies on modifying the energy of the system to achieve the desired motion and leverages the properties of the aircraft rather than eliminating them and imposing different properties. This approach is applied to both fixed-wing and aircraft and quadcopters. Simulations and experimental flights have show the efficacy of this approach compared to other more established methods.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/113573
Date30 January 2023
CreatorsFahmi, Jean-Michel Walid
ContributorsAerospace and Ocean Engineering, Woolsey, Craig A., Farhood, Mazen H., Patil, Mayuresh J., Ross, Shane D.
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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