TAKEOFF AND LANDING ROBUST CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A TANDEM CANARD UAV

Abstract

In spite of modern wide improvements in UAV's technologies, a few number of such a vehicles is fully autonomous from takeoff to landing. So, either autonomous operation or operation with minimal human intervention is, actually, the primary design goal for the UAV's researchers. The core of the problem is the design of the landing and takeoff control system. The objective of this paper is to design a control system in which the same state variables are controlled during both the descending/ascending path and the flare, tacking into account the actual ground effect. Robust control techniques are employed with the aim to cope with atmospheric turbulence, measurement noise, parameter variations and unmodelled dynamics. LQG/LTR control techniques have been used. The tests carried out regard the flight without turbulence, takeoff and landing with gust, rear or front wind, during various flight phases.