Collaborative Control Based on Total Energy of Flight Speed and Altitude of a Small UAV

The article presents comparative results of a real flight experiment and a flight simulation of a small UAV. A longitudinal motion control system is developed using a total energy approach. The outputs of the total energy controller are converted into control signals for deflecting the aircraft rudders in pitch and roll, as well as into engine thrust control. The aircraft motion is modeled as tables of dependencies of the dimensionless coefficients of forces and moments on the angles of attack, slip, and elevon deflection angles. The total energy control method was tested for a small flying wing aircraft. During the simulation, two modes were used: capturing and maintaining altitude and capturing the flight path angle. In the flight experiment, the capturing and maintaining altitude mode was used. The structure of the control system and the results of the simulation and the flight experiment are presented.