Predictive Path Following Control for Fixed Wing UAVs Using the qLMPC Framework in the Presence of Wind Disturbances

Citation
AIAA SCITECH (2024)
Contribution to Conference
AIAA SCITECH 2024
Publisher DOI
10.2514/6.2024-1594
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85194188835
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
This paper presents a cascaded approach for a predictive path-following scheme using quasi-linear parameter-varying model predictive control (qLMPC) applied to a 25 kg unmanned aerobatic aircraft. The quasi-linear parameter-varying (qLPV) representation provides a semi-linear model of the nonlinear system, while fast solvers are utilized to solve quadratic optimization problems (QOPs) in milliseconds. To incorporate integral action and overcome wind disturbances, a velocity-based linearization of the model is employed. Two scenarios with nine waypoints each are evaluated using a hybrid strategy that combines arc-length parameterization with cubic splines and a synthetic waypoint path-planner. The path-following strategy is applied to both simplified kinematic and high-fidelity models of the aircraft, with constant wind in the first scenario and time-varying wind in the second scenario. The algorithm achieves good performance in both scenarios with short computation times. Lastly, a performance analysis of the strategy with the two path-planning techniques is presented.