eprintid: 10188634 rev_number: 7 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/18/86/34 datestamp: 2024-03-07 17:48:07 lastmod: 2024-03-07 17:48:07 status_changed: 2024-03-07 17:48:07 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Yang, Jun creators_name: Liu, Cunjia creators_name: Coombes, Matthew creators_name: Yan, Yunda creators_name: Chen, Wen-Hua title: Optimal Path Following for Small Fixed-Wing UAVs Under Wind Disturbances ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: C05 divisions: F48 keywords: Disturbance observer, optimal control, path following, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) note: This is an Open Access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). abstract: This article presents a novel path-following algorithm for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles by virtue of a nonlinear optimal control approach and wind disturbance observers. Different from some exiting algorithms, the proposed algorithm formulates the path-following problem into a control problem by introducing auxiliary dynamics for the path parameter. The proposed controller is designed in an optimal and systematic manner where the control action is generated according to a well-defined cost function. This framework does not require any complex geometric coordinate transformation and can be easily tuned to accommodate curved reference paths, making it straightforward to deploy in different flight missions. Moreover, the wind influences on the path-following performance is explicitly compensated by the proposed algorithm based on the wind estimates provided by nonlinear disturbance observers. The closed-loop stability, including the auxiliary dynamics for path parameter and observer dynamics for wind estimation, is also analyzed. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm have been thoroughly validated in simulation studies and realistic flight tests. date: 2021-05 date_type: published publisher: IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC official_url: https://doi.org/10.1109/TCST.2020.2980727 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2092738 doi: 10.1109/TCST.2020.2980727 lyricists_name: Yan, Yunda lyricists_id: YYAAC15 actors_name: Yan, Yunda actors_id: YYAAC15 actors_role: owner funding_acknowledgements: EP/P012868/1 [U.K. Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)]; 61973080 [National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)]; JCYJ20190813152603594 [Shenzhen Science and Technology Plan]; EP/P012868/1 [EPSRC] full_text_status: public publication: IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology volume: 29 number: 3 pagerange: 996-1008 pages: 13 issn: 1063-6536 citation: Yang, Jun; Liu, Cunjia; Coombes, Matthew; Yan, Yunda; Chen, Wen-Hua; (2021) Optimal Path Following for Small Fixed-Wing UAVs Under Wind Disturbances. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology , 29 (3) pp. 996-1008. 10.1109/TCST.2020.2980727 <https://doi.org/10.1109/TCST.2020.2980727>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10188634/1/Optimal_Path_Following_for_Small_Fixed-Wing_UAVs_Under_Wind_Disturbances.pdf