Design and Flight Control of Miniature Air Vehicle

Design and Flight Control of Miniature Aerial Vehicle
A THESIS
SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF
Master of Engineering
IN THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
By
Ch.Sunil Kumar
Department of Aerospace Engineering

Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore-560 012
July 2012
Acknowledgements
I would like to sincerely thank my research advisor Prof. M Seetharama Bhat for introducing me
to this area of research. His constant guidance and dedication towards research helped me in
understanding the practical difficulties faced by the people working in this area. He taught me
the way of interpreting the results which helped me in strengthening my basic knowledge.
I am very thankful to all my course instructors who helped me in understanding the subject in a
better way. They have enriched my knowledge on various research topics that are currently being
used.
I would like to thank Titas, Harikumar, and Madhumita for being a great support in my research
work. They helped me in analyzing the results and understanding the purpose of the experiment.
I would like to thank Nsp Varma, Amarender, Reginald, Venkatesh, Akhilesh and Ramjee for
their support in academic and personal life. Without them my stay in IISc would have not been
possible. Their constant support helped in understanding the way to lead my life in a better way.
I would also like to thank Dr. Prashant and Mr.Sam for coming to the institute to fly the vehicle
whenever needed.
I am grateful to my parents and my brother for bringing me up to what I am now. In spite of the
family background, they encouraged and supported me in pursuing higher education. They were
always supportive in all the decisions in my life.
Finally I would like to thank all the people staying in IISc for making my stay in IISc a
memorable one.
iii
iv
Abstract
The term Miniature air vehicle (MAV) is used for unmanned aerial vehicles which are
man-portable. A typical MAV has a weight of around 2kg to 5 kg, wingspan of 1m to 2m. These
MAVs are used in military and civilian applications.
The design and methodology of constructing a miniature air vehicle and its flight control
is discussed in this thesis. The vehicle should have a maximum take-off weight of 1.5 kg and an
endurance of 45-60 minutes. Its range should be 1-2 km with an operating height of 100-200
meters and a cruise velocity of 15m/s and should be electrically propelled. It should have a low
stall speed which makes it possible to be hand launched. The vehicle should be installed with
Kestrel autopilot system. It is capable of autonomous and semi-autonomous flights after
installation and tuning of feedback loops.
The vehicle operates at Reynolds number between 90,000 and 215,000 at flight velocity of 8m/s
to 18m/s. The wing and tail configurations of the vehicle are designed. Due to the availability of
a similar kind of vehicle matching the requirements, instead of constructing a new vehicle, the
existing vehicle-Fpv Raptor is procured from the market. This vehicle is selected as it has a
stable operation in radio controlled mode. It has good glide properties and hence it will land
gently in case of power/battery failure. It is readily available at low cost since it is manufactured
in large numbers and sold to hobby flyers. The vehicle is mathematically modeled. It has a low
phugoid and dutch roll damping. This low damping makes it difficult for the pilot to fly the
vehicle.
Artificial stabilization is required to improve the flying qualities of the vehicle. The
feedback for stabilization is implemented on the kestrel autopilot hardware. It allows only PID
based feedback structures to be implemented, hence gives no choice to the designer to implement
higher order control. The digital integrator and differentiator implementations are non-ideal
which further reduces the effectiveness of the control. The limitations of the vortex-lattice
simulation based sofwares used for modeling increases the uncertainty in the plant model. The
controller also needs to reject wind gust disturbances during flight. All the above requirements
v
Abstract
vi
can be best addressed in robust control design. The classical robust control design suffers either
from over conservativeness or computational intractability. The statistical learning theory
overcomes both the above problems but suffers with confidence and accuracy limitations. To
combine the effectiveness of robust control design and statistical learning theory, a combined
Monte Carlo and modified Iterative Linear Matrix Inequality (ILMI) algorithm is used to design
the controller.
In the longitudinal dynamics, pitch rate and pitch angle feedback are used to improve the
damping of the phugoid mode. The PID control required for stabilizing the longitudinal plant
model is designed by using the combined algorithm. The constraints on pole placement, gain and
phase margin, damping of closed loop poles,
and
performance are simultaneously applied
in the algorithm. The designed controller is tested and the simulation results showed
improvement in the performance of closed loop plant.
Contents
Acknowledgements
iii
Abstract
Nomenclature and Abbreviations
List of Tables
xiii
List of Figures
xiv
1. Introduction
1
1.1 Motivation and Objective....1
1.2 Literature Survey.........2
1.2.1 Miniature Air Vehicles............2
1.2.2 Design Process of vehicle................3
1.2.3 Mathematical Modeling...4
1.2.4 Robust Control Techniques..4
1.2.5 Linear Matrix Inequality..5
1.2.6 Statistical Learning Theory and Randomized Algorithms...7
1.2.7 Path Planning and Following Algorithms8
1.2.8 Conclusion.11
1.3 Scope of the Thesis....11
1.3.1 Contribution...11
1.3.2 Organization of the Thesis.12
2. MAV Design Process
15
2.1 Introduction........15
2.2 MAV Design..17
2.2.1 Design Requirements.17
2.2.2 Technology Availability18
2.2.3 Initial Sizing...............22
2.2.4 Aerodynamic Design.22
2.3 Fpv Raptor.............30
vii
Contents
viii
2.4 Conclusion34
3. Mathematical Modeling of Fpv Raptor
35
3.1 Introduction............................35
3.2 Mathematical Modeling.....................35
3.2.1 Linearized decoupled state space model39
3.2.2 Estimation of Moments of Inertia......39
3.2.3 Stability and Control Derivatives...........40
3.2.4 Throttle Modeling..40
3.2.5 Actuator modeling.42
3.3 Open Loop responses for Longitudinal and lateral Model ...43
3.3.1 Response to step input....44
3.3.2 Response to pulse input..................46
3.3.3 Response to 3-2-1-1 input..48
3.4 Conclusion.49
3.5 Appendix50
3.5.1 Generating Control and Stability Derivatives50
4. Iterative Linear Matrix Inequality with Statistical Learning Theory
53
4.1 Introduction53
4.2 Linear Matrix Inequalities..54
4.2.1 LMI for pole placement on the left side of = line in complex
s-plane........................................................................................................54
4.3 Static Output Feedback for Non-Ideal PID Implementation.57
4.4 Generalized Plant for H2/H Control design.61
4.5 Modified ILMI Algorithm.62
4.5.1 The steps of modified ILMI algorithm62
4.6 Sampling Based ILMI Control Design..65
4.7 Monte Carlo based modified ILMI Algorithm..66
4.8 Conclusion.67
Contents
ix
5. Controller Design
69
5.1 Introduction69
5.2 Longitudinal Control Design.69
5.2.1 Classical feedback Analysis...70
5.2.2 Feedback design using Monte Carlo based modified ILMI algorithm .73
5.2.3 Attitude Hold Control System...80
5.3 Lateral Control Design...83
5.4 Open loop and Closed loop simulation..84
5.5 Conclusion.86
6. Conclusions and Future Work..87
References
89

AR
b
c
- Wing aspect ratio

- Wing span
- Mean aerodynamic chord
- 2-D Drag coefficient
- Normalized aerodynamic force in the X direction
- Normalized aerodynamic force in the Y direction
- Normalized aerodynamic force in the Z direction
- 2-D Drag Coefficient
- 3-D Drag Coefficient
- 3-D Lift Coefficient
- Normalized aerodynamic rolling moment
- Variation of rolling moment with roll rate
- Variation of rolling moment with yaw rate
- Variation of rolling moment with sideslip
- Maximum lift coefficient
- Pitching moment coefficient
- Normalized aerodynamic pitching moment
- Variation of pitching moment with forward velocity
- Variation of pitching moment with pitch rate
- Variation of pitching moment with angle of attack

- Variation of pitching moment with angle of attack
- Normalized aerodynamic yawing moment
- Variation of yawing moment with roll rate
- Variation of yawing moment with yaw rate
- Variation of yawing moment with sideslip
- Coefficient of thrust
- Variation of X force with pitch rate

xi
- Variation of X force with forward velocity

- Variation of X force with angle of attack
- Variation of X force with rate of change of
- Variation of Y force with roll rate
- Variation of Y force with yaw rate

- Variation of Y force with sideslip
- Variation of Y force with roll angle
- Variation of Y force with heading
- Variation of Z force with pitch rate
- Variation of Z force with forward velocity
- Variation of Z force with angle of attack
- Variation of Z force with rate of change of
- Error in pitch angle
- Moment of inertia around body fixed X, Y and Z axis

- Cross moment of inertia between body fixed x and z axis
- Derivative gain
- Derivative gain for pitch rate feedback

- Derivative gain for pitch angle feedback
- Integral gain for pitch angle feedback
- Integral gain
- Proportional gain for pitch rate feedback

- Proportional gain for pitch angle feedback
L
L/D
M
p
q
- Lift force of airplane

- Lift-to-drag ratio also called glide ratio
- Pitching moment of airplane
- Roll rate
- Pitch rate
- Dynamic pressure =
r
Re
S
- Yaw rate
- Reynolds number
- Surface area of the wing
xii

u
- Forward velocity
- Elevator commanded
- Angle of attack
- Angle of sideslip
- Flight path angle
- Aileron deflection
- Elevator deflection
- Pitch angle
AVL
AXI
BMI
CFD
EPP
Fpv Raptor
GM
ILMI
LiPo
LMI
LQR
MAV
PID
PM
PWM
QMI
UIUC
GM-15
XFLR5
- Athena Vortex Lattice software

- Brushless motor (nomenclature used by model motors)
- Bilinear matrix inequality
- Computational fluid dynamics
- Extended polypropylene (Type of foam used for model airplanes)
- MAV used in this thesis
- Gain margin
- Iterative Linear Matrix Inequality
- Lithium Polymer
- Linear matrix inequality
- Linear Quadratic Regulator
- Miniature air vehicle
- Proportional Integral Derivative controller
- Phase margin
- Pulse width modulation
- Quadratic Linear matrix inequality
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Glenn Martin-15 airfoil
- Xfoil software used for mathematical modeling similar to AVL
- Damping of phugoid, dutch roll od short period modes

- Phugoid, dutch, short period frequency
- Density of air in Kg/
- Roll angle
- Yaw angle
- Dynamic viscosity of air
xiii
xiv
List of Tables
1.1 List of autonomous electrically powered miniature air vehicles...3
2.1 MAV Design Requirements.18
2.2 Motor Survey...19
2.3 Battery survey..21
2.4 Initial Weight Estimate22
2.5 Airfoils having 10-12% thickness shortlisted from database..24
2.6 Airfoils having 5-7% thickness26
2.7 Characteristics of the vehicle designed using S1223 and Clark Y airfoils..29
2.8 Comparison of airfoil properties..32
2.9 Comparison of vehicle properties32
2.10 Properties of Fpv Raptor34
3.1 Theoretical and experimental moment of inertia values..40
3.2 Characteristics of the plant model43
5.1 Eigen Vector analysis for longitudinal motion70
5.2 Longitudinal Control design requirements..70
5.3 Uncertainty considered for the stability derivatives73
5.4 Longitudinal PID gains76
5.5 Eigenvalue-Eigenvector of closed loop plant..76
5.6 Open loop and Closed loop characteristics..77
5.7 Lateral Control design requirements83
xv
xvi
List of Figures
1.1 Description of RRT algorithm9
1.2 Reactive Obstacle avoidance algorithm...10
1.3 Construction of waypoint path in Reactive Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm...10
2.1 Flow chart for design and development of MAV ...16
2.2 Power available and Power required curves versus velocity for 117 propeller.21
2.3 Airfoil of Fpv Raptor...31
2.4 Fpv Raptor modeled in XFLR.31
2.5 Comparison of characteristics of Fpv Raptor and vehicle using Clark Y airfoil.33
3.1 Coefficient of Thrust versus Advance Ratio for 84 inch propeller41
3.2 Power available and Power required curves versus velocity...41
3.3 Response of servo actuator to step input..42
3.4 Response for unit step input to elevator...44
3.5 Response for unit step input to aileron45
3.6 Response for unit step input to rudder.45
3.7 Response to unit pulse elevator46
3.8 Response to unit pulse aileron.47
3.9 Response to unit pulse rudder..47
3.10 Response to 3-2-1-1 input to elevator48
3.11 Response to 3-2-1-1 input to aileron..48
3.12 Response to 3-2-1-1 input to rudder..49
4.1 General feedback plant55
xvii
List of Figures
xviii
4.2 Closed loop system with PID-PD feedback.57

4.3 SOF closed loop system...60
4.4 Generalized Plant.61
5.1 Longitudinal Nominal Plant.71
5.2 Root locus for pitch rate feedback...71
5.3 Step response of the closed loop system..72
5.4 Longitudinal Generalized plant74
5.5 Nominal Lateral Plant..77
5.6 Bode plot of the system obtained by breaking at the input..78
5.7 Step response of the closed loop system for plant model at 8m/s...79
5.8 Bode plot of the system obtained by breaking at the input (plant model at 8m/s)79
5.9 Step response of the closed loop system for plant model at 18m/s.79
5.10 Bode plot of the system obtained by breaking at the input (plant model at 18m/s)..80
5.11 Altitude Hold Control System...81
5.12 Nominal Lateral Plant82
5.13 Open loop response for a commanded elevator (step input)..83
5.14 Closed loop response for a commanded elevator (step input)...84
5.15 Step Response of the closed loop system..86
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Motivation and Objective
The term Miniature Air Vehicle (MAV) is used for Unmanned Air Vehicles which are
man-portable. A typical MAV has a weight of around 2kg to 5 kg, wingspan of 1m to 2m.
Vehicles of smaller size and weight (micro air vehicles) are being developed around the world.
These MAVs can carry a larger payload (hence more useful work) when compared to the
smaller vehicles. They can operate in wind gusts which are intolerable for the micro air vehicles.
These vehicles can be used in situations of natural disasters like earthquakes, floods or cyclones
where human being gets trapped. There are helicopters used to survey the area and gather
information but they are expensive and cannot be launched in large numbers at short notices. The
MAVs equipped with a reasonable high resolution cameras can directly send video to the
ground station giving an overview of the situation.
The general payload carried by these vehicles is a high resolution camera which can
directly transfer video to the ground station. They can be used in automobile traffic monitoring,
wild land monitoring, pipelines and power line monitoring and for surveillance in areas having
risk of illegal mining. They can be pre-programmed to visit a desired location and can be
rescheduled during flight. In military use, the soldiers can carry these portable vehicles with
them during any operation. They can be flown over the enemy territory in order to know the
position of the enemy ground force before proceeding any further. They also can be used for
border patrol. These vehicles can be equipped with explosives or biochemical weapons. These
can be used to directly execute the enemy artillery in order to reduce the loss of our human life.
With the evolution of present sensor technology, there are high quality, light weight
sensors available for collecting weather information, detecting explosives and land resources.
The MAV research is also interesting for a researcher because of the opportunity to build a real
airplane and learn flying it. Flying the vehicle under wind disturbances and practically testing the
1
Chapter 1. Introduction
control system designed by them is very interesting and challenging. It involves knowledge from
multiple disciples which improves the awareness of the researcher in various fields.
The objective of this thesis is to develop a miniature air vehicle which is man portable,
can be hand launched and easily flyable. The total weight of the vehicle including the payload
should not exceed 1.5 kg. It should be electrically propelled in order to reduce the engine noise.
For surveillance purposes, the vehicle should fly a fairly stabilized flight at a constant altitude so
that the information from the camera installed onboard is useful. The handling qualities of these
vehicles are poor due to their low damped dynamics. Hence artificial flight stabilization is
required in order to obtain a stabilized flight. Therefore, development of flight control and testing
its performance during flight is the highest priority. Flight stabilization improves the quality of
the flight and reduces the pilot effort required. This allows higher navigation loops to be added
for autonomous operation of the vehicle.
1.2 Literature Survey

1.2.1 Miniature Air Vehicles
There are different types of MAVs such as Fixed Wing, Tailless aircraft, Rotary Wing.
The conventional fixed wing aircraft have good gliding ability and good handling qualities.
There are various MAVs already designed and being used in military applications given in [1, 2]
and some of them are tabulated in table 1.1 along with their specifications. The military
specifications that these vehicles satisfy are given in [3].
The MAVs given in the table 1.1 are used in military applications. These vehicles satisfy
the military specifications [3] and are being widely used for surveillance applications. The
typical weight of these vehicles is around 2 Kg. They are carried by the soldiers in their
backpack. The wing span is typically below 1.5 m which makes them less detectable during
flight and also easily portable. The typical characteristic for these military vehicles is that they
can be assembled and hand launched within a few minutes. They have an endurance of 1 hour
and are operated at a height of 300-600 meters above ground level. The ceiling of the aircraft is
from 3 km to 4.5 km. Their operating range should be more than 5 km as the ground force should
not be too close to the enemy territory. They use electric propulsion producing minimum noise
and heat signature which makes them undetectable to the enemies while flying over enemy
territory. The typical payload carried by these vehicles is a high resolution camera or infrared
camera which can directly send the video to the ground station.
Table 1.1 List of autonomous electrically powered miniature air vehicles
MAV
name
Maximum
Endurance
Weight
45 min
Operating
Altitude
(meters)
Wing
span
(meters)
Range
(km)
Payload
150-250
1.46
5km
Electro-optical camera
Aladin
3Kg
Bird Eye
100
1.3Kg
60min
----------
0.85
5km
--------
Bush
master
2Kg
90min
300-600
----
8km
Color TV-camera
(fuselage mounted)
Swift
Eye
1.8Kg
40 min
300-600
1.42
----
Color TV-camera
Dragon
Eye
2.7Kg
45-60 min
100-300
1.1
10km
Motion camera or
electro-optical camera
(nose assembly)
RQ-11A
(Raven)
1.9Kg
80 min
1000
1.3
10km
Video and Infrared

camera
1.2.2 Design Process of vehicle

The Design process includes three phases and is disused in detail in [16]. The level of the
detail of the design increases as we go through conceptual, preliminary and detail design. The
brief overview of the design process is given below:
i.
ii.
Conceptual Design: In this phase, the design requirements are used to guide and evaluate
the development of the overall aircraft configuration arrangement. This design includes
the size and shape of the wing, the required tail geometry and its configuration, location
of the payload, battery, motor.
Preliminary Design: In this phase only minor changes are made to the configuration of
the vehicle (wing or tail configuration). Extensive wind tunnel testing and CFD
iii.
calculations are done in this phase. At the end of this phase the wing, tail configuration,
fuselage configuration, placement of components are finalized and detailed drawings of
the airplane are made.
Detail Design: In this phase, the detailed design of each and every part (including the nuts
and bolts) to be fabricated is done. The size, number and location of each component to
be fabricated are calculated and detailed drawings with actual fabrication geometries and
dimensions are made. At the end of this phase, the aircraft is ready to be fabricated.
1.2.3 Mathematical Modeling

After design and fabrication of the vehicle, mathematical modeling of it is done using
vortex lattice based simulation softwares like XFLR5 and AVL [4, 5]. These vortex based
simulation softwares are not professional softwares and thus do not offer any guarantees of
robustness and accuracy. For the aircraft the mathematical model is to describe both a physical
system (i.e. aircraft and its surroundings) and a process (i.e. control of the aircraft along some
desired path). The equations of the model define relationship between system variables. The
aircraft is a nonlinear system and this system is linearized into longitudinal and lateral modes
which illustrate the longitudinal and lateral motion respectively. These are thoroughly discussed
in [6]. The mathematical equations and values are used to convert motion sensor inputs into
measurements of aircraft state, compute guidance parameters, derive servo and throttle
commands, and perform co-ordinate frame transformations.
The main goal of mathematical model of aircraft is
1. Predicting the aircraft state using motion inputs.
2. Estimating the command inputs needed to guide the aircraft along a selected path following
some predefined waypoints.
Using the above model we can design navigation and guidance systems capable of autonomously
guiding an aircraft through predefined waypoints.
1.2.4 Robust Control Techniques

Robust control techniques are widely used in aerospace applications because of the
uncertainties present in their dynamics and also in the environment in which they fly. The
uncertainty is also introduced intentionally when the non-linear aircraft model is linearized for
control design. The uncertainty is also introduced due to modeling errors. The modeling errors
are due to the inability of the wind tunnel to simulate the environment in which the vehicles
actually fly or due to the approximations done by flow simulation software used to model the
aircraft. The environment being an open space is difficult to predict and this introduces
uncertainty in the vehicle behavior during flight. This uncertainty is more like a disturbance the
vehicle experiences during flight. Therefore, in the flight control design we have to incorporate
certain robustness to these uncertainties.
The uncertainty in the system can be handled by specifying bounds on the uncertainties
and designing the control which gives satisfactory performance for uncertainties within these
bounds. This is a robust control way of handling the uncertainties. The uncertainties can also be
handled using a stochastic control technique in which the uncertainty is modeled as probabilistic
variables and designing the control after introducing them in the dynamics.
The modeling errors and the wind gust disturbances are the major source of uncertainties
in the aircraft application. In [7], the Eigen structure assignment is used in which the modeling
uncertainties are not considered. In [8] LQR design is used in which all the states should be
available for feedback. In the aircraft application all the states are not available for feedback
which requires a Kalman filter to estimate the unknown states which is a LQG design discussed
in the same paper. A trajectory tracking system for UAV application is studied in [9]. Robust
control theory is used to design the flight control system. The navigation control commands are
produced by the deviation of real position data with the preset flight path.
In case of an aircraft, if we know the bounds on each of the parameters then the
uncertainties can be modeled using Linear Fractional Transformation (LFT). In [10] -synthesis
is done on the LFT model and the resulting controller performance is shown to be better than the
H-infinity based controller. In [11], the classical PID-controller, Integral separated PID controller
and Adaptive proportion PID controller are compared for a UAV application. The adaptive
proportion PID controller is good in both stability and dynamic performance of pitch attitude
control. In [12], all the robust control methods are briefly discussed.
1.2.5 Linear Matrix Inequality

The modern control design problem is to solve for a good solution for a problem with
conflicting requirements which is similar to solving an optimization problem or feasibility
problem. These optimization problems are convex or quasi convex problems and they can be
expressed as Linear or Bilinear Matrix inequalities (LMI and BMI). A linear matrix inequality is
an expression of the form [13]
( )=
where,
=[
inequality
<0
(1.1)
is a vector of real numbers which are decision variables of the
=
are real symmetric matrices
is negative definite.
0
( )<0
( ) <0
All eigenvalues of F(x) are negative
The linear matrix inequality of the form Eq. 1.1 is always convex because the condition for
convexity (Eq. 1.2) is always satisfied by F(x). These inequalities are always convex and
therefore can be solved by convex optimization software.
(
+ (1 ) ) =
( ) + (1 ) ( ) < 0
(1.2)
(1.3)
A bilinear matrix inequality is of the form

( )=
where = [
] and
variables of the inequality.
=[
+(
)<0
] are vectors of real numbers which are decision
In case of aircraft, satellite or missile, the closed loop plant is required to satisfy worst
case stability criteria in the face of uncertainties and disturbances which works out to be a BMI
problem. The BMI problem is not a convex problem and is difficult compared to LMI which is
always convex. In case of convex LMI problems, interior point methods are used which cannot
be used for BMI due to the non-convexity. A number of algorithms to solve BMI are present
since 1990s. There is also research going on converting the BMI to solvable forms or
approximating it and finding the global solution iteratively.
Though analytical solutions are used by most of the control design techniques, finding the
solution is often difficult and many times requires searching. If these are reformulated in linear
matrix inequality feasibility or optimization problems then their solutions can easily be found by
numerical methods. Multiple LMI constraints can be converted to a single LMI constraint by
augmenting them into a single LMI [14]. After the formulation of the LMI, the efficient
algorithms are used to solve the LMI [16]. There are many control design problems which have
equivalent LMI formulations and these are discussed as follows.
The design of state output feedback
controller that satisfies additional constraints on
the closed loop pole location is discussed in [15]. In this paper, sufficient conditions for
feasibility are derived for a general class of convex regions of the complex plane. These
conditions are expressed in terms of LMIs and subsequently solved. For multi input and multi
output (MIMO) systems which cannot be well approximated by the first or second order systems,
the tuning of the PID controllers is very difficult. Therefore, these design problems are
transformed into static output feedback controller design problems which can be done solved
using LMIs. In [14, 17] the design of multivariable PID controllers is done using LMI approach.
H2 and H-infinity suboptimal control is also done with PID controllers.
1.2.6 Statistical Learning Theory and Randomized Algorithms

The classical robust control techniques discussed in the sections 1.2.4, 1.2.5 are either
over conservative or computationally intractable [18]. Probabilistic and Randomized techniques
have been used in various applications to tackle computationally difficult problems that are too
hard to be treated using exact deterministic methods [18]. If an efficient or poly-time algorithm
exists for a particular problem, then the problem is soft or tractable otherwise the problem is hard
or intractable. The starting point of the probabilistic approach is to assume that the uncertainty
affecting the control system has a stochastic nature and to provide probabilistic assessments on
the system characteristics i.e. a characteristic ( norm,
norm, gain and phase margin) of the
system is robustly satisfied in a probabilistic sense if it is guaranteed against most of the possible
uncertainty outcomes.
In the aircraft application, the aircraft model is obtained from wind tunnel data or
modeling software. The mathematical model is different for different trim conditions. The model
considered for the controller design is for a particular trim condition (cruise velocity of the
vehicle). Due to the wind disturbances and other environmental factors, the trim condition cannot
be maintained during the whole flight duration. The uncertainties and disturbances are
introduced as parametric uncertainties in the stability derivatives in the mathematical model of
the plant. The probabilistic method gives the controller which satisfies the plant with the
presence of these uncertainties. The price to be paid is that it works in most of the cases but fails
in some. The introduction to Statistical Learning Theory and Monte Carlo simulation is given in
[18, 19]. The use of Uniform Distribution in robustness analysis is discussed in [20].
1.2.7 Path Planning and Following Algorithms:

The controller designed for an MAV improves its handling qualities which result in a
stabilized flight. The vehicles having stable flight with good damping characteristics can be
operated autonomously with the help of path planning and obstacle avoidance algorithms. Some
of these algorithms are discussed in [2, 36]. The following three algorithms are widely used in
this application and are discussed briefly.
i.
ii.
iii.
Rapidly-Exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm

Vector Field Path Following
Reactive Obstacle and Terrain Avoidance
RRT Algorithm
This algorithm builds a tree that uniformly explores the search space. The input to the
algorithm is a start (
) and an end (
) point. The algorithm uniformly searches the space
between start and end point by randomly sampling from a uniform probability distribution. The
algorithm randomly selects a sample p from the space and then selects a waypoint ( ) at a fixed
distance (D) from the start point, on the line joining the start point and the point p. It checks
whether the waypoint collides with an obstacle. If the waypoint collides then it is discarded and a
new point p is selected or it adds the waypoint to the random tree. In this way the algorithm finds
a complete path through the obstacle area. It is a probabilistic approach. It considers the dynamic
constraints like turn radius limitations and airspeed. The disadvantage is that it cannot be applied
for detecting moving obstacles.
Figure 1.1 Description of RRT algorithm

Vector Field Path Following
This algorithm produces a field of desired course commands that drives the MAV to the
current path segment. At any point, the desired course commands are calculated. This desired
course is used to command heading and roll control loops to guide the MAV onto the desired
path. This method is effective in tracking paths with wind speeds up to 50% of the airspeed of
MAV. This algorithm considers dynamic limitations, imprecise sensors and controls, wind
disturbances.
10
Reactive obstacle avoidance

This algorithm uses a laser ranger to detect and avoid obstacles. Consider a situation as
shown in the figure 1.2. Let the vehicle has a minimum turn radius R. When the aircraft detects
an obstacle, it constructs an internal map obstacle, a cylinder with radius R as the actual size of
the obstacle is unknown. It has two paths around the cylinder and it chooses randomly if both are
similar (either free or obstructed). The endpoints of the waypoint paths are selected so that the
new way point paths are tangent to the obstacles in the internal map. The new waypoints are
located at a distance
from the original waypoint, where d is the turn away distance
from obstacle as shown in the figure 1.3. As it tries to overcome the map obstacle, it detects the
actual obstacle again and creates a new map obstacle as shown in figure 1.2. This process is
continued till it overcomes the actual obstacle.
Figure 1.2 Reactive Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm
Figure 1.3 Construction of waypoint path in Reactive Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm

The waypoint path is constructed so that it is perpendicular to the map obstacle. The radius R
ensures collision free passage around the map obstacle.
11
1.2.8 Conclusion
The miniature air vehicle designed in this thesis is similar to the vehicles already
available as shown in the Table 1.1. The objective of this thesis is to develop a vehicle of lesser
weight and with better endurance than the vehicles already available. These two improvements
make the vehicle useful for long endurance surveillance operations. The miniature air vehicle has
a low damped dynamics and therefore requires artificial stabilization. The modified ILMI is used
in designing the controller for UAV applications. This robust control method gives an over
conservative design. In the case of unavailability of wind tunnel data, the accuracy of the model
decreases and the above method cannot give good results. In these applications, the modified
ILMI algorithm is applied in a probabilistic framework which combines the advantages of both
the methods. This combined algorithm is used to design the controller in this thesis.
1.3 Scope of the Thesis

In this thesis, the preliminary design of wing and tail geometries of a miniature air
vehicle is done. The preliminary design satisfies the design requirements of the vehicle. In the
design process, we realized that the detailed design of the vehicle requires extensive wind tunnel
data, structural calculations before fabricating the vehicle. After fabricating the vehicle, the
vehicle should be tested and again redesigned if any of the design requirements are not satisfied.
This whole process cannot be done within the specified time limit. Therefore, we thought of
procuring a vehicle, which satisfies the requirements, from the market. The vehicle Fpv Raptor
is procured from the market which is widely used by hobbyists and has good gliding capabilities.
The vehicle is modeled using Xfoil softwares to obtain the mathematical model. The vehicle has
a low damped dynamics and requires artificial stabilization to improve its flying qualities.
Longitudinal controller is designed for stabilizing the plant using Monte Carlo approach and
modified ILMI algorithm. The closed loop plant is tested in Matlab for its improvement in
performance.
1.3.1 Contribution
The contribution of this thesis can be summarized as follows
The preliminary design of the MAV involves the initial size estimates of the wing and tail
geometry. The existing airfoils available in literature are analyzed and the characteristics
12
of each airfoil are tabulated and compared to choose an airfoil suitable for the design
requirements. The wing and tail geometry calculations are done based on the weight and
stability calculations following the procedure available in literature.
During the design process, it is understood that the detailed design requires wind tunnel
data and structural calculations before fabrication of the vehicle. After fabricating the
vehicle, the vehicle should be tested and again redesigned if any of the design
requirements are not satisfied. This whole process cannot be done within the specified
time limit. Therefore the vehicle-Fpv Raptor which satisfies the design requirements is
procured from the market. The airfoil of the Fpv Raptor is analyzed. The vehicle is
mathematically modeled after experimental calculation of the Moment of Inertia values.
A systematic method of designing control for the vehicle is done using Matlab tools. The
modified ILMI algorithm is combined with Monte Carlo based simulation to design the
controller. The additional dynamics introduced by non-ideal implementation of
differentiator and integrator is taken into account in designing the controller.
The above algorithm is used to design a longitudinal controller. The controller designed
is tested for the improvement in the performance of the closed loop system. The open
loop response for a step input is compared with that of the closed loop response. The
controller showed improvement in the handling qualities (improved the damping) of the
longitudinal mode.
1.3.2 Organization of the Thesis

The remainder of the thesis is organized in four chapters followed by conclusion and a list of
bibliography. The contents of each chapter are given below.
Chapter 2: The preliminary design of the MAV involves the initial size estimates of the
wing and tail geometry. The existing airfoils available in literature are analyzed and the
characteristics of each airfoil are tabulated and compared to choose an airfoil suitable for
the design requirements. The wing and tail geometry calculations are done based on the
weight and stability calculations following the procedure available in literature. During
the design process, it is understood that the detailed design requires wind tunnel data and
structural calculations before fabrication of the vehicle. After fabricating the vehicle, the
vehicle should be tested and again redesigned if any of the design requirements are not
satisfied. This whole process cannot be done within the specified time limit. Therefore
13
the vehicle-Fpv Raptor which satisfies the design requirements is procured from the
market. The vehicle is reconstructed using modeling softwares and the lift, drag and
pitching moment characteristics of the vehicle are compared with those of the vehicle
constructed in the design process.
Chapter 3: The mathematical model of the vehicle is obtained using XFLR5 and AVL
softwares. The open loop responses for step and pulse inputs are analyzed to understand
the performance of the plant. The vehicle is tested in flight by the pilot by giving pulse
and step inputs to the elevator. The model is verified with the data obtained from the test
flights.
Chapter4: The modified ILMI algorithm is used to develop a multi-loop robust pole
placement PID design. The LMIs used in the algorithm are for pole placement,
and
constraints. This robust design is done in a probabilistic framework using Monte
Carlo simulation in order to reduce the over conservativeness of the classical robust
control technique. The combined algorithm implementing modified ILMI algorithm in
probabilistic framework is finally presented.
Chapter 5: In this chapter the longitudinal controller is designed for the Fpv Raptor
vehicle using the modified ILMI algorithm in probabilistic framework discussed in the
previous chapter. The designed controller is tested for its closed loop performance using
Matlab simulation. The results of the closed loop response show an improvement in the
damping characteristics (phugoid damping is improved) of the vehicle.
14
Chapter 2
MAV Design Process

2.1 Introduction
The miniature air vehicle is designed to be fixed wing, portable, easily launched and
recovered. The different MAVs compared in table 1.1 are portable and can be carried in the
backpack by a soldier. This is possible due to the characteristics like smaller wing span and
lower weight. They can also be easily dismantled for storage and assembled when required.
These characteristics must be met while designing the MAV. The design process is a sequential
approach from initial sketch to final fabrication and testing of the model. The detailed design
process is discussed in [21] which consist of three main phases, conceptual, preliminary and
detailed design followed by fabrication of the model. This process is an iterative process and
these three phases are interlinked with each other. If in some phase the design goes out of the
mission specifications, then the design is reiterated to meet all the goals and this process is
continued until the detailed designed matches the design specifications. The vehicle is then
fabricated and tested for its performance.
In this chapter, design of a miniature air vehicle is discussed. The design is challenging
due to low stability of these kinds of vehicles. The airfoil selection is done based on analysis of
existing airfoils. The wing and tail configurations are selected based on the available information
about these kinds of vehicles. The initial wing and tail geometries are estimated using
calculations based on initial sizing. The stability and control analysis of the vehicle is performed.
The dihedral and sweep characteristics of the wing, the area of the control surfaces are tested and
their initial estimates are obtained. During the design process, it is understood that the detailed
design requires wind tunnel data and structural calculations before fabrication of the vehicle.
After fabricating the vehicle, the vehicle should be tested and again redesigned if any of the
design requirements are not satisfied. Designing and building airframes is expensive and highly
15
Chapter 2. MAV Design Process
16
Design Requirements
Technology Availability
Market survey for components
Concept Sketch
Initial Sizing
Aerodynamic Design
Stability and Control Analysis
Review Design Requirements

and Reiterate the Design
Fabrication
Test Flight
Review performance and Reiterate the Design till requirements are satisfied
Figure 2.1 Flow chart for design and development of MAV
17
time consuming and the quality is also sacrificed during manufacturing process (as small
quantity is manufactured). Therefore the vehicle-Fpv Raptor which satisfies the design
requirements is procured from the market. This vehicle is selected as it has a stable operation in
radio controlled mode. It has good glide properties and hence it will land gently in case of
power/battery failure. It is readily available at low cost since it is manufactured in large numbers
and sold to hobby flyers.
2.2 MAV design

The design process is an iterative process and is done keeping into account the
specifications and available hardware components. The overall design can be split into four
major fields. These are Aerodynamics, Propulsion, Structure, Stability and Control. These fields
are considered as the subsystems in the design process. The payload comprising of the avionics
is also a subsystem. Each of these subsystems consists of various factors to be decided while
designing. These are discussed in detail in this section. These subsystems are interrelated to each
other and cannot be dealt individually. The flowchart in figure 2.1 shows the whole design
process. The flowchart is taken from [22] and modified with the help of overall design process in
[21]. We will follow this flowchart for designing the MAV.
2.2.1 Design Requirements

The design of any aircraft begins with specific set of design requirements established by
the customer. These requirements are based on the final application (military or civilian) of the
aircraft. They include parameters such as aircraft range and payload, takeoff and landing
distances, maneuverability and speed requirements. They also depend on set of military and civil
design specifications such as stall speed, structural design limits. It is these requirements that the
final design should satisfy in order to satisfy the customer. Therefore, it is necessary to check the
design requirements after each step of the design process. These requirements are generally
obtained from existing aircraft designs and modified for the present application.
The MAVs being used in military applications are listed in table 1.1. Their
characteristics like weight, wing span, operating altitude, endurance, propulsion system and
payload are suitable to their application as discussed in section 1.2.1. The MAV being designed
in this thesis is used for a similar application. The design requirements of the MAV are given in
table 2.1.
18
The maximum takeoff weight of the MAV should not exceed 1.5 kg including the
payload. The wing span should be less than 1.5 m for easy portability. The endurance of the
vehicle should be at least 45 minutes which is required for its application of surveillance. The
vehicle is being designed for surveillance in civilian areas like illegal mining areas unlike the
military application as discussed in section 1.2.1. The range can be limited to 1-2 km based on
availability of the communication equipment. The operating altitude should be around 100 to 200
meters with a cruise speed of 12 to 15 m/s. It should use electric propulsion to reduce the noise in
civilian areas. The vehicle should be hand launched from any terrain. The payload is a high
resolution camera which can take photos and videos and directly send them to the surveillance
officer at the ground station.
Table 2.1 MAV Design Requirements
Maximum Take Off Weight
1.5Kg
Endurance
45-60 min
Range
1-2Km
Operating Altitude
100-200 m
Cruise speed
12-14 m/s
Maximum speed
18 m/s
Propulsion
Electric Motor
Launch and Recovery
Hand Launch and Skid Recovery
Payload
Camera
2.2.2 Technology Availability

This step is very crucial in the design process. If the vehicle should have long endurance
then it should be light weight with a high battery capacity. If the vehicle should be highly
maneuverable and flying at high speeds then the structure should be rigid and the propulsion
19
system should produce the extra thrust required. The availability of the technology should be
checked before proceeding with design.
Propulsion: The electric motor is a clean, low maintenance and less noisy source of propulsion.
The manufacturer gives the details like the maximum current drawn, thrust available in no load
condition for various motor-propeller combinations. The maximum current drawn by the motor,
servo actuators and the avionics can be calculated and the battery capacity required can be
estimated.
Table 2.2 Motor Survey
Motor
No. of
Weight
(Voltage)
cells Propeller
AXI 2814/20
106 g
3 (11.1V)
EMAX
GT2218
76 g
3 (11.1V)
(inches)
Maximum thrust
138
1700g (weight of model)
117
113.8
No
load
current
0.7A
0.6 A
Table 2.2 shows the motors suitable to the requirements. The AXI 2814/20 motor gives
the required thrust of 1500 to 1700 gm. The EMAX GT2218 motor gives a thrust of 1400g with
a weight of just 76g.
Thrust Modeling: The AXI motor can be used with two 138 inch and 117 inch propellers.
The wind tunnel measurements for the 117 inch propeller are taken from UIUC Propeller
Database [23]. Empirical thrust coefficient ( ) versus advance ratio (J) curves for different
propellers are given in [23]. The advance ratio J is given by the expression
(2.1)
where V is the forward flight velocity, n is the rpm of the motor, D is the diameter of the
propeller.
The thrust coefficient is given by the expression
where
20
(2.2)
is the thrust in newtons, is the air density.
The
curve for the propeller is available for different rpm with only slight difference. For
a particular velocity, advance ratio is calculated. Using the
curve the thrust coefficient is
determined. The thrust available is calculated from the Eq 2.2. The power available is calculated
from the relation
= where
is the power available in watts,
is thrust available in
newtons, V is the forward velocity in m/s.
The thrust required is calculated using the following equilibrium steady flight equations.
(2.3)
(2.4)
where L is the lift force generated, D is the drag force generated, W is the weight of the vehicle,
is the thrust required.
The following equations are used in calculating the drag force experienced by the vehicle.
=
where S is the wing surface area,
(2.5)
(2.6)
are the 3D lift and drag coefficients of the vehicle.
The thrust required is calculated using Eq 2.4. The power required is calculated from the relation
= where
is the power required in watts,
is thrust required in newtons, V is the
forward velocity in m/s. The power required and power available curves for 117 propeller are
shown in the figure 2.2 for 5000 rpm of the motor.
21
Figure 2.2 Power available and Power required curves versus velocity for 117 propeller
From the figure, it is understood that the flight regime is from 7 to 18 m/s where power available
is greater than power required. This is a good flight regime of operation and therefore, this
propeller motor combination is chosen. The EMAX motor is considered as they are available in
the local market and can be procured easily. This AXI motor is widely used by hobbyists around
the world and also gives the required thrust. The manufacturer provides information like
discharge rating, weight and capacity of the battery.
Table 2.3 Battery survey
Battery
Weight No. of cells Capacity (mAh) Discharge rating
Zippy Flightmax 8000 3S1P 30C
644 g
8000
30C
Turnigy nano tech 8400mAH
641 g
8400
40C
Table 2.3 shows the battery cells suitable to the requirements. The battery weight is
around 650 g which is half of the weight of the aircraft. The batteries compared are almost
identical with Turnigy which is having a high discharge rate. The discharge rate limits the
22
maximum current that can be drawn from the battery pack. The 30C discharge of Zippy
Flightmax battery gives a current of 24 A which is equal to the current capacity of the AXI
motor. It is also widely used and has good performance compared with the Turnigy battery
packs. Therefore, the Flightmax battery is chosen.
2.2.3 Initial Sizing of the vehicle

The wing and tail geometries, propulsion system location and placement of the
components are approximately finalized in the initial sizing. The initial weight estimate required
for aerodynamic calculations is obtained here. The initial weight estimate of the MAV is given in
table 2.4.
Table 2.4 Initial Weight Estimate
Subsystem
Quantity
Weight
Motor(AXI 2814/20) with propeller
116g
Zippy Flightmax 8000
644g
Kestrel autopilot with hardware
+ Autopilot Battery
80g + 25g
JETI speed controller(30A)
25g
Servo actuators
20g
Structure
Total
590g
1500g
2.2.4 Aerodynamic Design

The airfoil, the planform shape, wing and tail configurations are the various aspects in
aerodynamic design. The airfoil effects the cruise speed, stall speed and handling qualities and
overall aerodynamic efficiency during all phases of flight. The wind tunnel testing of airfoils is
not done due to the time limitations. The vortex lattice simulation based software, XFLR5 (an
XFOIL software) [24] is used for analyzing the airfoils.
23
XFLR5: XFLR5 is an analysis tool for airfoils, wings and planes operating at low Reynolds
Numbers. It includes:
XFoil's Direct and Inverse analysis capabilities

Wing design and analysis capabilities based on the Lifting Line Theory, on the Vortex
Lattice Method, and on a 3D Panel Method
Validation: This software is validated for the results before being used further in order to find
the accuracy of the predicted data. The XFLR5 data of some existing airfoils are compared with
the wind tunnel data available in the literature. There is slight deviation of the predicted data
from the wind tunnel data which is acceptable.
The aerodynamic design is combined with the stability and control analysis. The stability
analysis is used to estimate the size of the tail and control surfaces, wing dihedral, wing sweep.
The procedure followed is outlined here. This procedure is sequentially followed in this section.
Choosing an airfoil
Calculation of Wing loading
Choosing the AR (aspect ratio) and calculating the Wing span
Wing Configuration and geometry
Tail configuration
Tail Sizing
These kinds of vehicles are generally designed with airfoils of thickness around 10%.
The airfoils are chosen by shortlisting from the UIUC airfoil database and AID Airfoil
Investigation Database [25, 26]. Table 2.5 shows the list of the airfoils along with the XFLR
data. The simulation in XFLR is done for a particular Reynolds number which is calculated using
the formula given in Eq. 2.1.
where is density of air=1.1 kg/m3 (density in Bangalore)

v is the velocity of air ( cruise velocity of the MAV) =15m/s
L is the Mean Aerodynamic chord (considered as 20cm)
(2.7)
24
is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid = 1.8 10
Re obtained is 1,85,000 and this number is used for the simulation in XFLR. The cruise velocity
and the mean aerodynamic chord are considered from the data collected about similar kinds of
vehicles tabled in 1.1 in chapter 1.
Table 2.5 Airfoils having 10-12% thickness shortlisted from database
Airfoil
Thickness
Clmax
Cl/Cd max
Cm @Cl/Cd max
E374
10.91%
1.02 @ =110
72 @ =60
-0.045
E224
10.17%
1.1 @ =100
67 @ =50
-0.05
E168
12.44%
1.02 @=110
52 @ =7.50
0.002
DF102
11%
1.3 @ =120
63 @ =3.50
-0.052
Dae51
9.31%
1.35 @=120
85 @ =60
-0.1
Clark k
11.70%
1.2 @ =100
63@ =60
-0.08
S1223
12.43%
2.2 @ =120
71 @ =3.50
-0.273
Clark y
11.71 %
1.39 @ =12.50
72 @ =4.50
-0.075
The following properties are considered in choosing the airfoils:

i.
The structural weight of the wing and body should be as low as possible. This benefits
us in the way that a higher capacity battery pack can be used which increases the
endurance of the vehicle. The weight of the wing depends on the thickness of the airfoil.
The thickness should be small enough to reduce the weight and large enough to give
overall strength to the wing.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
25
The thickness of the airfoil is generally chosen by the amount of volume required for
storing fuel. This is an electrically powered vehicle and this way of choosing the
thickness cannot be done.
The Lift coefficient should be high. Maximum Lift Coefficient (Clmax) of the airfoil
should be greater than 1.5.
The moment coefficient should be low which reduces the tail volume required for
trimming. Pitching moments of the order 0.08 are acceptable.
The / ratio (glide ratio) should be high.
The operating angle of attack (), where the glide ratio is high, should be far from the
stall angle of attack (
).This margin gives a wide range of operating for the pilot.
The material to be used for construction of the vehicle depends on the required structural
rigidity and overall weight of the vehicle. As the structural weight of the vehicle should
be small, the vehicle should be made of complete EPP (Extend poly propylene) foam
(density 20 kg/m3) or foam reinforced with balsa (density 120-200 kg/m3) to get enough
strength for the wing.
The airfoils chosen have good pitching moment coefficients but the coefficient of lift is low
which increases the required wing area. The thickness of the airfoil is greater than 10% and if we
use foam reinforced with balsa for construction, the overall weight of the wing increases.
Therefore, airfoils of lesser thickness are chosen and similar analysis is done. The results are
shown in the table 2.6.
The airfoils having good coefficient of lift has very high pitching moment coefficient and
vice versa. So there should be some tradeoff between the required ,
values and this
depends on
i.
The
value should be such that it does not give high wing loading for the required
ii.
stall speed. The wing span required should be less than 1.5m with an aspect ratio of 1012.
The
value should be such that the tail volume required for trimming the vehicle
should be practically feasible. The tail volumes can be found out using existing formulae
in the literature [21].
26
Table 2.6 Airfoils having 5-7% thickness

Airfoil
Thickness
Clmax
(Cl/Cd)max
Cm @
(Cl/Cd)max
a18sm
7.28%
1.3@ =90
85@ =4.50
-0.115
bw-3
5.02%
1.44@ =90
70 @ =40
-0.120
E61
5.67%
1.45@ =7.50
96@ =3.50 but
-0.22
Gm15sm
6.74%
1.36@ =10
S6062
7.94%
Lrn1007
NACA M6
very sharp curve

89.5 @ =3.50
-0.13
0.9 @ =90
59 @ =40
-0.035
7.27%
1.1@ =50
91 @ =50 but
very sharp curve
-0.12
7.81%
0.9@ =90
64 @ =6.50
-0.035
The wing structure can either be made from foam reinforced with balsa or using only foam
which is available in the laboratory. In order to verify the structural stiffness, we made a rough
model of the vehicle using foam and balsa. The airfoil GM15sm (5% thickness) is used for
constructing the wing. It has good glide ratio and good
. The wing is constructed using
foam and reinforced with carbon fiber and balsa is used for reinforcing at the bottom part of the
wing. The wing is then covered by glass fiber tape. It is observed that the wing is very weak and
that it flutters when the vehicle flies. It has to be reinforced again which increases the weight
beyond the required value. Instead of using strong reinforcements for a thin wing and spoiling its
airfoil shape, a thick wing would be better.
The airfoils are chosen from the shortlisted airfoils of 10% thickness. S1223 and Clark Y are
considered and analyzed thoroughly and the results are shown according to the guidelines shown
before.
S1223 airfoil: This Selig airfoil has a good coefficient of lift (Clmax=2.2) but the pitching
moment coefficient (Cm=-0.273) is too large. The stall angle is around =120 which is far away
from the operating angle of attack =3.50.
27
Wing Loading: In most airplane designs, wing loading is determined by considerations of

and landing distance. As landing distance is not considered in the design, the wing loading is
determined purely by
. The stall velocity is the minimum velocity with which the aircraft
can fly without stalling. The stall velocity for these kinds of vehicles is considered as 6 to 7 m/s.
=
Aspect Ratio (AR): It is one of the design considerations that should be taken into account. The
high-aspect ratio-wings do not experience much loss of lift and increase in drag due to tip effects
compared to a low-aspect ratio-wing of equal area. The maximum subsonic L/D (lift to drag
ratio) of an aircraft increases approximately by the square root of an increase in aspect ratio but
the wing weight also increases with aspect ratio. Due to the reduced effective angle of attack at
the tips, a low aspect ratio wing stalls at higher angle of attack. This vehicle which should have a
good gliding capability and so the aspect ratio should be that used for the sail planes. An aspect
ratio of 10-12 can be used.
From the formula
b, the wing span can be calculated.
= .
Wing Configuration
The wing configuration has certain aspects like wing sweep, taper ratio, wing twist and dihedral.
The wing configuration is generally finalized from the data available in literature about similar
kind of existing vehicles. The wing sweep is used for reducing the transonic and supersonic drag.
It reduces the coefficient of lift at low speeds. The vehicle travels at very low speeds, so the
sweep is not necessary.
The wing taper ratio is the ratio between the tip chord and the root chord. By the Prandtl
Lifting Line theory, induced drag reduces when the lift is distributed in an elliptic fashion. This
demands that the wing shape be an ellipse which is difficult to construct. The tapering of the
wing makes the Lift distribution elliptical. Most wings of low sweep have a taper ratio of 0.4-0.5
whereas most swept wings have taper ratio of 0.2-0.3.The taper ratio is taken as 0.45 which is
generally used for many designs.
28
The wing twist is typically used for unswept and untapered wings. It is used to prevent tip
stall and to give an elliptic lift distribution. This vehicle does not require any wing twist as it
makes its construction difficult. The dihedral is used for lateral stability. Positive dihedral tends
to roll the aircraft level and thus increases the lateral stability of the vehicle. The dihedral is
chosen from historical data and this depends on the high, low or mid type wing configuration.
The mid wing configuration is suitable for this vehicle as it is easy to manufacture and does not
add additional drag. A dihedral of 2 to 4 is generally used for a mid unswept wing. The wing
is constructed in XFLR and simulation is done. A dihedral of 30 proved effective from the
simulation.
Fuselage Length: For the initial estimate of the Fuselage length, the formula given in the [21] is
used. For a sail plane Fuselage Length is given by L=
where a=0.71 and C=0.48 and
is the weight of the vehicle.
Tail Configuration
There are different tail arrangements that can be possibly used.
The T-tail configuration has the disadvantage that at high angles of attack (during climb), the
horizontal tail comes under downwash and if the wing stalls by any chance, the tail which is in
the downwash also gets stalled. Thus the vehicle cannot be recovered from the stall region. This
makes the vehicle unstable at higher angles of attack.
Without further analyses, the conventional tail is considered as it is easy to manufacture and also
structurally strong.
Calculating the planform area of the horizontal and vertical tail:
where VHT and VVT are the horizontal and vertical tail volume coefficients.
=Horizontal distance between the C.G of the airplane and the aerodynamic center of the
horizontal tail.
= Planform area of the horizontal tail
29
=Horizontal distance between the C.G of the airplane and the aerodynamic center of the
vertical tail.
= Planform area of the vertical tail
= Mean Aerodynamic chord of the wing
Tail Sizing
The geometry of the tail can be calculated similar to the wing assuming it as rectangular tapered
wing. Tail aspect ratio and taper ratio for sail plane are taken from the historical data given in
[21]. The above discussed characteristics are calculated for both the airfoils considered, S1223
and Clark Y and are listed in table 2.7.
Table 2.7 Characteristics of the vehicle designed using S1223 and Clark Y airfoils
Characteristics
S1223 airfoil vehicle
Clark Y airfoil vehicle
Wing Loading
59.722 kg/m2
49.284 kg/m2
Wing surface area
0.246 m2
0.3 m2
Wing span
1.6m for AR=10
Rectangular tapered wing
Vertical tail
1.55 for AR=8
21.5cm , 10cm
24cm, 11cm
Span
38 cm
44cm
Root and tip
7.5cm , 4cm
10cm, 5cm
Span
14 cm
16cm
Root and tip
10cm , 5 cm
12cm, 6.5 cm
(root and tip chord)

Horizontal tail
1.73m for AR=10
The table shows the wing and tail geometries of both the vehicles. The wing span of the vehicle
should be within 1.5 cm according to the design requirements. A high aspect ratio wing has good
30
gliding capabilities which are required for the surveillance applications. The aspect ratio of 10
used in sail planes is used in this design. The wing span of 1.6 m for the S1223 vehicle is
acceptable. The wing span of the Clark Y airfoil is greater than 1.7 m which gives makes the
vehicle difficult to carry. The tail surface area is calculated from existing formulae from
literature. The wing and tail geometries are considered to be rectangular and the root and tip
chords are mentioned in the table. The tail surface is mainly used for stability of the vehicle.
The vehicles are constructed in XFLR5 and stability analysis is performed to calculate
the areas of the control surfaces. The analysis shows that the tail surface of the S1223 vehicle is
not sufficient for stabilizing the vehicle longitudinally. This is due to the high pitching moment
coefficient of the airfoil as given in table 2.5. The Clark Y airfoil vehicle is longitudinally and
laterally stable and the initial estimate of the control surface areas are obtained from the analysis.
The Clark Y airfoil with a reduced AR of 9 is finalized due to its good stability characteristics.
The final estimates of the weights, wing and tail geometries are not calculated as a vehicle-Fpv
Raptor is procured from the market. This vehicle satisfies the design requirements and is used
instead of constructing a new vehicle. In the next section, these characteristics of the vehicle are
compared with the Fpv Raptor vehicle.
2.3 Fpv Raptor

During the design process, similar kind of high aspect ratio vehicles are searched in the
market. The vehicle - Fpv Raptor is chosen as it satisfies the design requirements. The weight of
the UAV is 1.3 kg including battery and autopilot which is well within the range (1.5 kg). The
wing span of the vehicle is 1.6m while the wing span for the vehicle designed with Clark Y
airfoil is 1.7m. The Fpv vehicle has a pusher configuration (propulsion system). This makes the
vehicle easy to handle as the propeller does not damage during skid recovery. The UAV is
procured from the market and is modeled in XFLR in the following way.
Modeling the airfoil and wing: The airfoil of the wing is obtained approximately from tracing it
on a graph sheet. The coordinates of the airfoil are entered in text file and stored in .dat format.
The XFLR takes this file as input and can simulate the airfoil coefficients for required Reynolds
numbers. The tail is constructed using NACA 0006 (National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics) airfoil. This airfoil is almost similar to a flat plate and is generally used for
construction of tail. The body of the vehicle is constructed as shown in the figure 2.2. The wing
body interactions are considered to some extent in this software. The predicted data in the
31
presence of wing-body interaction is compared with the data without body. The results show a
decrease in lift coefficient, glide ratio and increase in drag coefficient.
Figure 2.3 Airfoil of Fpv Raptor

The wing and tail dimensions are calculated and reconstructed using XFLR5. The model of the
FPV Raptor is given in figure 2.6.
Figure 2.4 Fpv Raptor modeled in XFLR
32
The Fpv airfoil is analyzed in XFLR5 and the resulting data is compared with that of the Clark Y
airfoil data in the table 2.7.
Table 2.8 Comparison of airfoil properties
Clark Y
Fpv Raptor
1.39 @ = 12.50
1.05 @ = 100
72 @ =4.50
62 @ =30
-0.075
-0.08
The glide ratio, and coefficient of lift and pitching moment is better for Clark Y airfoil when
compared to the Fpv Raptor in simulation. The 3-D wing properties are shown in the table 2.8.
Figure 2.5 shows the coefficient of lift, coefficient of drag, coefficient of pitching moment and
glide ratio plotted with (angle of attack) for both Clark Y and Fpv vehicles.
Table 2.9 Comparison of vehicle properties
operating
Clark Y
Fpv Raptor
24 @ =4.50
16 @ =10
0.42 @ =4.50
0.5 @ = 10
The coefficient of lift at operating alpha is greater in case of Fpv Raptor but the glide ratio is
smaller than that for Clark-Y vehicle. The Fpv vehicle is trimmed with zero elevator angle and
has good handling qualities.
The coefficient of lift of the Fpv vehicle is slightly less than that of the Clark Y vehicle
but increases with the same slope. The coefficient of drag of Fpv vehicle increases steeply for
angle of attack greater than 2 . This is not a good characteristic as the overall glide ratio comes
down at higher angles of attack. The pitching moments of both the vehicles are good. The
vehicle can be made stable in the longitudinal motion with a slight elevator angle without
saturating the servo. The glide ratio of the Fpv vehicle comes down steeply which is not a good
flying characteristic. The Fpv is flown by many hobbyists and it is understood that the flying
33
characteristics of this vehicle are good. The anomaly between this and the simulation results
might be due to the inability of the XFLR software in estimating the properties of the new Fpv
airfoil. It might also be due to the human error in exactly reproducing the airfoil shape. The
properties of the vehicle are given in the table 2.5.
Figure 2.5 Comparison of characteristics of Fpv Raptor and vehicle using Clark Y airfoil
34
Table 2.10 Properties of the Fpv Raptor

Name
Fpv Raptor
Weight (Flying weight)
1.360kg
Wing span
1.6m
Wing Area
0.327 m2
Root chord and M.A.C
19.8 cm ,18.56 cm
C.G position from nose
x= 35cm y=0cm z=8.5 cm
Wing incidence
4.60
2.4 Conclusion
The design of an MAV according to the design requirements is done in this chapter. The
Stability and Control analysis is done to finalize tail geometry and area of control surfaces. The
thrust calculations, current calculations, final evaluation of aerodynamic design are not done as
the vehicle is not designed for fabrication. The Fpv vehicle is modeled and its performance is
compared with the simulation results of the vehicle using Clark Y airfoil. The results show a
degraded performance of Fpv but it is due to the inability of the software in accurately predicting
its properties.
Chapter 3
Mathematical Modeling of Fpv Raptor
3.1 Introduction
The aircraft dynamics is nonlinear and coupled system of equations. For the purpose of
designing flight control understanding of the system, these equations are linearized and
decoupled into longitudinal and lateral model. These decoupled equations are analyzed to
understand the motion of the aircraft in both longitudinal and lateral mode. The mathematical
model of the aircraft, a state space realization is used for the flight control system and simulation
of aircraft under external disturbances.
In this chapter, the XFLR5 and AVL softwares are used to estimate the mathematical
model of the Fpv Raptor vehicle. The compound pendulum method is used to estimate the inertia
values of the vehicle. Various inputs (step input and pulse input) are applied to the open loop
plant in both longitudinal and lateral modes and their responses are analyzed.
3.2 Mathematical Modeling

For a fixed wing aircrafts, six degrees of freedom equations of motion are used to define
motion in flight. The aircraft motion can be categorized as longitudinal motion, lateral motion or
a combination of both. The purely longitudinal motion does not include lateral motion and purely
lateral motion has very little effect on longitudinal motion. Therefore, to reduce complexity, the
longitudinal and lateral motion are decoupled and defined as two separate motions with three
degrees of freedom each. It is further considered that the aircraft experiences very small
perturbations from its equilibrium condition during flight.
3.2.1 Linearized Decoupled State Space Model

The decoupled perturbed linear equations of motion are taken from [27]. The equations are
repeated here for the sake of completeness.
35
Chapter 3. Mathematical Modeling of Fpv Raptor
+
+
36
(cos
=
(sin
(3.1)
)
(3.2)
(3.3)
(3.4)
(3.5)
(3.6)
The equations 3.1-3.3 define the longitudinal motion of the aircraft and 3.4-3.6 define the lateral
motion. The lateral (roll) and directional motion (yaw) are highly coupled motions and cannot be
decoupled.
Linearized Longitudinal model
The longitudinal motion is the motion of the airplane in the X-Z plane. This motion can be
defined by a minimum of four states. They are identified as the forward velocity, velocity in the
z-direction, pitch, and pitch rate. The longitudinal motion is controlled by a deflection of elevator
and change in throttle. The linear model is given here.
U is the velocity of the vehicle at equilibrium state of the aircraft. The system matrix entries are a
function of stability derivatives. These depend on the vehicle to be modeled and its desired
equilibrium condition.
=[
=[
=[
]
=
where A=
, B=
0
, C=
0
cos
0 1 0
0 0 1
+
0
0
=
=
=
37
= (
=
sin
Linearized Lateral model

The lateral motion is the motion of the aircraft in the X-Y and Y-Z planes. Its motion can be
defined by a minimum of four states. These are the angle of side slip, roll, roll rate and yaw rate.
The lateral motion is controlled by the differential deflection of ailerons and rudder.
=[
=[
=[
]
]
where A=
1+
1+
1+
, B=
0
=
0 1 0 0
0
0 1 0
, C=
0 0 0 1
+
0
0
0
38
=
+
+
1+
1+
The procedure to obtain the mathematical model from simulation softwares is discussed
here. The mathematical model of the vehicle is the state space representation of the linearized
longitudinal and lateral modes. The state matrix consists of stability derivatives and the input
matrix consists of control derivatives. The vehicle is reconstructed in XFLR5 software as shown
in Figure 2.2. The wing, tail and the control surface geometries are calculated from the vehicle
and are used in the wing and plane design in XFLR5 software. The trim condition is calculated
from the stability analysis provided by the software. The geometry of the vehicle is exported to
AVL software. The AVL software does not have an editor and is very difficult to build a model
directly. It takes the geometries of wing, tail and control surfaces in the form of a text file. This
text file is obtained from the XFLR5 software which has a user friendly editor. The AVL also
39
takes a mass distribution file as input which requires the center of gravity (C.G) location and
moment of inertia values of the vehicle. The estimation of the inertia values is discussed in the
next section. The AVL takes the geometric values and inertia values of the vehicle as input. The
model of the vehicle is calculated by entering the required trim velocity or angle of attack . The
output file is a text file which contains both lateral and longitudinal model of the vehicle at the
specified trim condition.
The mathematical model for different trim velocities can be obtained in a similar manner.
The XFLR software could not predict the characteristics of the 2-D airfoil at higher . This is
due to the inefficiency of reproducing the actual airfoil shape. These result in unstable plant
models at high . In order to overcome this difficulty, the stability derivatives for lower are
used to predict the plant models for higher . This method produced stable plant models for all
the trim conditions. This process is discussed in detail in section 3.2.3.
3.2.2 Estimation of Moments of Inertia

The moment of inertia values are computed using compound pendulum method. The
method is widely used to estimate the inertia values of rigid bodies and is discussed in [28-30].
The theoretical calculations of inertia can be done using second moment equations. The name is
because of the squared moment arm that multiplies each infinitesimal volume during integration.
The constant mass and density is assumed throughout the analysis, we can use the simplified
estimation equations
=
[(
[(
[(
[(
[(
) +(
) +(
.
.
) +(
.
.
)(
)(
.
.
.
) ]
) ]
) ]
)]
)]
[(
40
)(
)]
where xi, yi are the positions of the individual masses which make the UAV. The masses are
estimated approximately and each weight is taken as a point weight acting at xi, yi.
Both Ixy and Iyz are zero because of symmetry and the C.G location is taken as x C.G = 35 cm and
yC.G = 8.5cm. The inertia values estimated using above method are compared with the theoretical
values in table 3.1
Table 3.1 Theoretical and experimental moment of inertia values
Moment of Inertia Theoretical value in kgm2 Experimental value in kgm2
Ixx
0.0548
0.130254
Iyy
0.080712
0.145874
Izz
0.1088
0.233184
Ixz
0.004098
-----------
3.2.3 Stability and control derivatives

The stability and control derivatives are obtained from XFLR and AVL data and
modified using Matlab. The procedure is discussed in detail in Appendix given at the end of this
chapter. The stability and control derivatives for a particular trim velocity are given by the
numerical equations given in the Appendix.
3.2.4 Throttle Modeling

Fpv Raptor is throttled by an electric motor and 84 inch propeller. The wind tunnel data of
propellers are given in [23]. The advance ratio (J) versus coefficient of thrust ( ) curve for the
84 inch propeller is taken from the data given in [24] and is shown in Figure 3.1. The power
required and power available curves versus forward velocity are obtained using Eqs 2.1-2.6 in
Section 2.2.2.
Figure 3.1 Coefficient of Thrust versus Advance Ratio for 84 inch propeller
Figure 3.2 Power available and Power required curves versus velocity
41
42
Figure 3.2 shows the flight regime in which Fpv Raptor can fly. The minimum velocity is limited
by the stall velocity. The maximum velocity is limited because of the unavailability of required
power from the motor.
3.2.5 Actuator Modeling

The stability derivatives of the vehicle uniquely define its dynamics whereas the control
of the aircraft also depends on the actuator used for control surface deflection. The actuators in
the Fpv vehicle have limited performance due to its small size and low weight. The actuator
response is slower compared to the vehicle response which reduces the pilot authority to correct
the motion. Therefore, it becomes necessary to accurately model these actuators and use it while
designing the control.
The servo is assumed as a first order transfer function and its time constant is calculated
from a simple experiment using a servo driving kit [31]. The servo is driven with a PWM signal
to move the horn form one position to another. The horn is connected to a spring load and a
potentiometer. The output response is a step response and the time constant of the system is
calculated from it. The transfer function of the actuator is
(3.7)
The gain of the servo is the ratio of the amount of deflection obtained to the amount of deflection
needed. The gain of the servo in no load condition is 1 and this is assumed to be true in loaded
condition. The figure 3.1 shows the response of the servo to a step input.
Figure 3.3 Response of servo actuator to step input
43
3.3 Open Loop responses of Longitudinal and lateral Model

The mathematical model for a trim velocity of 12 m/s is given below. The longitudinal model
has , , , (forward velocity, velocity in z direction, pitch rate and pitch angle) states. It takes
the elevator deflection as input. The lateral model has , , , (velocity in y direction, roll rate,
yaw rate and roll angle) states. It takes the aileron and rudder deflection as inputs.
,
are the longitudinal state and input matrices respectively.
,
are the lateral
state and input matrices respectively. The characteristics of the plant are given in table 2.2.
0.19
1.65
= 0.05
0.00
0.00
0.276
0.00
= 1.056
0.044
0.00
0.00
0.54
6.41
3.77
0.00
0.00
0.02
0.00
10.44
0.90
0.00
0.00
0.000 9.81 0.107

10.36 0.00 6.453
3.04 0.00 32.63
1.00 0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00 8. 00
0
0
= 0
0
8
12.39 9.81 0.256 1.903

1.00 0.00 20.35 0.325
3.2744 0.00 0.215 7.045
0.0906 0.00 0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00 8.00 0.00
0.00
0.00 0.00 8.00
0
0
0
=
0
8
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
Table 3.2 Characteristics of the plant model

Aircraft Mode
Damping ()
Frequency (
) in rad/sec
Phugoid mode
0.03
0.982
Short period mode
0.62
7.72
Dutch Roll Mode
0.0282
1.65
The military specifications for these kinds of vehicles are given in [3]. The plant
characteristics are compared with the given military specifications. The phugoid mode frequency
is within the specifications but its damping is very low and has to be improved. The short period
frequency and damping are within the specifications. The dutch roll damping is very low and
44
also has to be improved. The open loop responses of longitudinal and lateral plant model for unit
step, unit pulse are discussed in the sections 3.3.1-3.3.3.
3.3.1 Response to Step input

The open loop plant is driven with unit step input to the elevator, aileron and Rudder and the
responses are shown in the figures 3.2-3.4.
Figure 3.4 Response for unit step input to elevator

The figure shows that if the elevator is deflected by 1 degree, the variation in the
longitudinal variables are within bounds and also practically feasible. The phugoid damping of
the model is low causing the low damping observed in the plot. The positive step is causing
negative which can be understood by the / transfer function. The positive deflection of
elevator is downwards. The downward deflection causes the aircraft to pitch down which results
in negative . The aircrafts velocity increases when the aircraft is pitching down and this result
45
in a positive deflection of forward velocity. The vertical velocity changes as there is a component
of forward velocity acting downwards as the aircraft is pitching down.
Figure 3.5 Response for unit step input to aileron
Figure 3.6 Response for unit step input to rudder
46
The response for the aileron and rudder inputs suggests that the damping of the dutch roll
mode is poor and has to be improved. The spiral mode is unstable due to the right hand side pole.
These problems must be overcomed in the closed loop system to be designed. The positive step
input to the aileron rolls the aircraft to its right whereas a positive step input to rudder yaws the
aircraft towards negative y-direction.
Similar analysis holds for the pulse input given in the next section and it can be seen that
the response to the elevator input is within bounds but that of the lateral model is not. This is due
to the unstable spiral mode.
3.3.2 Response to Pulse input

A pulse of 1 degree deflection is given for a very short period of time (around 0.1sec) for
the control surfaces and the responses are shown in the figures.
Figure 3.7 Response to unit pulse elevator
Figure 3.8 Response to unit pulse aileron
Figure 3.9 Response to unit pulse rudder
47
48
3.3.3 Response to 3-2-1-1 input

The 3-2-1-1 input is chosen such that the all the modes are excited. This is ensured by
calculating the width of the pulses using the formula available in Appendix B of [34].
For the short period mode to be excited the value of t is 0.15 and for the dutch roll
mode, the value is 0.9. The output responses are shown in the figure 3.11-3.13.
Figure 3.10 Response to 3-2-1-1 input to elevator
Figure 3.11 Response to 3-2-1-1 input to aileron
49
Figure 3.12 Response to 3-2-1-1 input to rudder
3.4 Conclusion
The Moment of Inertia values of the vehicle are calculated using Compound Pendulum
method. The compound pendulum method is widely used for calculating the moment of inertia
of the unmanned aerial vehicles. This method is proven to give better results compared to other
methods. The servo actuator used in the vehicle is modeled using an experimental setup. It is
assumed as a first order system and its transfer function is determined. Although this process is
not so accurate, it works well in our application. The open loop step and pulse input responses
are plotted. They indicate the behavior of the aircraft for disturbances during flight. The
responses indicate poor damping characteristics and the need for a controller to improve the
handling qualities of the aircraft.
50
3.5 Appendix
3.5.1 Generating Control and Stability Derivatives
The xfoil softwares could not calculate all the coefficients for the required angles of
attack. This caused instabilities in calculating the stability derivatives for some angles of attack.
These instabilities cause an unstable plant model. In order to get a stable plant model for all
velocities, the XFLR and the AVL data is exported to Matlab and curve fitting is done. The
variation of stability and Control derivatives with alpha are numerically obtained. The variation
of alpha with velocity is also obtained. So for a given a velocity, the angle of attack, stability and
control derivatives can be obtained using the numerical equations shown below.
The angle of attack () for a given velocity (V) is given by the relation:
= 0.002088
0.1315
+ 3.128
33.92
+ 141.8
The longitudinal and lateral stability and control derivatives for a given angle of attack are
given below:
= (7.82 10 ) + (7.624 10 ) (9.925 10 ) 0.03464 0.1434
= (46.25 10 ) + (36.23 10 ) + (287.2 10 ) + 0.0716 + 0.3961
=0
= 9.81
= (1.584 10 )
= +(39.59 10 )
= (57.78 10 )
=0
+ (5.242 10 )
(90.63 10 )
+ (137.3 10 )
0.01196 1.503
+ 0.7357 7.2
1.149 + 11.6
= (9.664 10 ) + (1.959 10 ) (1.922 10 )

= +(2.646 10 ) 0.06582 + 0.4759 4.267
= +(1.993 10 ) 0.04688 + 0.3632 3.431
=0
0.02219 0.02376
51
= (2.938 10 ) + (2.606 10 ) 0.09362 + 0.005573

= +(1.566 10 ) 0.3446 + 2.204 8.682
= +(79.66 10 ) 1.761 + 11.38 44.31
= (8.142 10 ) (3.394 10 ) + 0.006069 0.03468

= (5.488 10 ) + (1.501 10 ) (1.523 10 ) + 0.01201 0.03316
= (4.855 10 ) + (13.28 10 ) 0.428 + 1.063 13.08
= 9.81
= (1.806 10 ) + (4.64 10 ) (4.261 10 ) + 0.006566 1.059
= (4.238 10 ) + (1.144 10 ) 0.1211 + 0.9659 11.48
= (1.639 10 ) (6.174 10 ) + 0.2012 + 3.031
=0
= (1.256 10 ) + (2.82 10 )
= (2.246 10 ) (3.798 10 )
= (7.479 10 ) (1.005 10 )
=0
= (1.953 10 ) + (5.647 10 )
0.002547
= (3.647 10 ) + (1.067 10 )
= (5.849 10 ) + (3.18 10 )
(1.042 10 )
= (3.542 10 )
0.04069
= (7.366 10 )
(7.155 10 )
= (1.313 10 )
(1.024 10 )
+ (2.127 10 )
(3.793 10 )
(7.224 10 ) + 0.001988 + 0.04248

+ 0.01615 0.915
(1.626 10 )
(6.251 10 )
0.01952 + 0.1177
+ (3.964 10 )
(1.196 10 )
+ (8.305 10 )
+ 0.07574 0.4344
+ (1.812 10 )
+ (1.133 10 )
(7.179 10 ) +
(2.352 10 )
(4.196 10 )
+ (1.486 10 )
0.0266 + 0.1507
52
Chapter 4
Iterative Linear Matrix Inequality Algorithm in
Probabilistic Framework
4.1 Introduction
The mathematical model of the Fpv Raptor Vehicle is obtained using Xfoil softwares.
There is no wind tunnel data to validate the results or to check the accuracy of the results. The
test flights conducted on the vehicle provides a way to test the performance of the model but
with certain limitations. The magnitude of the wind gusts or the wind disturbances during the test
flights is unknown which puts a limit on the accuracy of the flight data. Therefore, the
uncertainty in the model parameters is high. The non-linear equations are linearized in order to
reduce the complexity of the controller design and this again limits the performance of the
controller. The low cost, low performance MEMS based sensors used on these vehicles have
their own error bound, which is not negligible. In order to get robust performance to overcome
the above uncertainties and disturbances, modern control synthesis technique has to be used. The
objective of the control is to improve the flying qualities of these vehicles by placing the poles of
their dynamics at desired regions in s-plane. The hardware on which the control is implemented
often has limited scope for implementing a generic feedback structure. The onboard
implementable control structure on Kestrel [32] Autopilot hardware is PID based. This makes the
control design problem a fixed order multi-objective control design exercise.
The iterative linear matrix inequality (ILMI) [15, 17] is a multiple objective automatic
tuning algorithm. The solution is iteratively found by loosening the
performance criteria
which needs to be satisfied while optimally placing the poles to minimize the real part of the
largest eigenvalue. The solution is also constrained to satisfy the
performance criteria.
Optimal pole placement is done to maximize stability, gain and phase margin while achieving
the desired
performance. The robust
stability criterion is also satisfied by the obtained
solution.
53
Chapter 4. Iterative Linear Matrix Inequality Algorithm in Probabilistic Framework
54
Several problems in robustness analysis and synthesis of control systems are NPcomplete or NP-hard. The solutions to these problems are computationally intensive. An
approach gaining popularity for solving these problems is the use of randomized algorithms. In
the classical robust control techniques, the objective function to be minimized is the worst case
performance index which results in over-conservative designs. In statistical learning theory, the
objective function is to minimize the average performance index of the controller. This approach
of using randomized algorithms helps to solve the intractable problems. The penalty is however,
these algorithms are probabilistically complete. The probability of failure of randomized
algorithms can be arbitrarily made close to zero but can never be exactly equal to zero. In [33]
the probabilistic robust design with linear quadratic regulators is discussed.
4.2 Linear Matrix Inequalities

Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) and LMI techniques have emerged as powerful design tools in
areas ranging from control engineering to system identification and structural design. The LMI
formulations, for checking if a particular control solution satisfies the various ,
or pole
placement based criteria, leads to a convex optimization problem. But the problem of finding a
control solution satisfying these criteria is not computationally easy. They are often bilinear in
nature and have to be modified into solvable convex quadratic or linear matrix inequalities. The
modification of one such bilinear matrix inequality (BMI) for pole placement to minimize the
largest eigenvalue of the system is presented in this section.
4.2.1 LMI for pole placement on the left hand side of

plane
line in complex s-
Consider an open loop plant ( ) which has the system matrix ( , , , ) [Ref Eq. 4.1] and its
closed loop system ( , , , ) [Ref Eq.4.2] such that (Fig 4.1). The feedback gain is K.
=
1+
(4.1)
(4.2)
55
Open loop plant

u
G(s)
K
Closed loop plant
Fig 4.1 General feedback plant
Lyapunov Conditions for Pole Clustering

If D is a sub region of the complex left half plane then a dynamical system as given above is
called D-stable if all its poles lie in D. If D is considered as an entire left half plane, then we look
for a symmetric matrix, X satisfying
+
such that
is stable, [14]
If the pole placement is on the left side of
+
<0
=
>0
(4.3)
line then corresponding LMIs are
<2
>0
(4.4)
Similar LMI formulations are also proposed for cone, disk and other shaped region in the
complex plane. The closed loop matrix
can be expressed in terms of open loop system
matrices if the controller K is static or is a real value matrix as given below.
Substituting this equation in (Eq. 4.2)
( +
) + ( +
=
>0
) <2
(4.5)
56
Here the unknowns are X, K and . Therefore we can solve a feasibility problem for X and K for
a given or we can solve an optimization problem to minimize and find solution for X and K.
In both the cases the problem becomes bilinear which is computationally difficult to solve. The
available Matlab tools [16] can solve only quadratic matrix inequalities (QMIs) and LMIs.
Therefore above problem is converted into QMI in [17]. Substituting X by P in Eq. 4.3 and not
considering the inequality P > 0 for time being, we can write
+
+
+ (
) <2
(4.6)
Adding and subtracting
gives
+ (
) +
<2
Now a term
is added on the left hand side. This term is always positive. Assume that
inequality holds even after adding this term. The justification of the assumption is done later in
the derivation.
+
It can be written as
+ (
) +
+(
)(
) <2
<2
(4.7)
The proof for the above result is in [17].

The Eq. 4.5 is convex quadratic in nature except the negative term, (
). This term
prevents the equation from transforming into a solvable LMI. To make the inequality quadratic,
we introduce another variable X such that,
(4.8)
( )
( )0
for any X and P of the same dimension. Solving the above equation gives
+
where equality hold when X=P

Taking transpose of the above equation and considering the property that X and P are symmetric
results in
+
Substituting the above equation in Eq. 4.5 results in

+
+(
)(
<2
(4.9)
57
The stability synthesis matrix inequality can now be written in QMI form as
+
(
+
+
where =
+
>0
<
0
0
(4.10)
(4.11)
The result of adding a positive definite term

is that even for a system with all its poles
in the left half complex plane, the solution can be positive. Therefore, the term added makes
the solution slightly over conservative.
4.3
Static
Output
Feedback
for
Non
Ideal
PID
Implementation
The ILMI algorithm and its disadvantages are discussed in [22]. The implementation of static
output feedback for ideal PID implementation is also discussed in [22]. In this thesis, the
modified ILMI is used and its advantages over the ILMI algorithm are discussed in the next
section.
+
+
-
PID
X
G(s)
PD
Figure 4.2 Closed loop system with PID-PD feedback
58
In the Kestrel Autopilot, the differentiator and integrator are of standard form as given in Eqs.
4.11, 4.12.
( )=
(4.12)
( )=
(4.13)
The values of these constants cannot be changed by the designer and are given in [35]
The PID and the PD blocks have the following transfer functions
( )=
( )=
(4.14)
( )
( )+
(4.15)
( )
The
,
are the gains of the PD block corresponding to
and
,
,
are the gains
of the PID block corresponding to output .
Let three blocks of G, PD, PID be , , respectively and the corresponding state matrices be
( , , , ), ( , , , ) and ( , , , ) and the state space representation is as shown in
the equations below.
=
Substituting =
form, we get,
=
,
=[
(4.16)
(4.17)
(4.18)
in the above equations and solving for the state output feedback
+ 0
0
0
0
(4.19)
0 0
0
0 0
=
+ 0
0
0
0
0
0 0 1
0
+ 0
0
0
The above equation can be represented as
can be written as
and
Similarly
Substituting =
+
,
=
,
=
system with r as an input can be defined as
can be expressed in terms of
in equations 4.15-4.17, then the closed loop
The above equation can be written as
where
(4.20)
for r and u inputs respectively.

=[
]
=[
59
=
=
(4.21)
as in Eq. 4.21
(4.22)
where K=[] is the unknown gain matrix. The

,
, ,
are the unknown
matrices of the PD, PID controllers and needs to be determined. The LMIs. 4.9, 4.10 are solved
using efficient algorithms to obtain the K matrix.
If K= [
] then
= ,
=
,[
The SOF closed loop system is shown in the figure 4.3.
]=
60
P(s)
u
-
K
Figure 4.3 SOF closed loop system
The K matrix is the feedback gain matrix but we need to calculate the PID gains from this K
matrix. Let = [
] where the elements of the matrix are the PD,PID
gains which are unknown.
where
0
1
= 0
0
0
0 1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
(4.23)
(4.24)
det( ) =
(4.25)
The matrix M can be singular only if any one or more of , , , are zero. But they cannot be
zero because:
1. If
are zero then the integrator and differentiator transfer functions are
zero respectively.
2. If
are zero then the integrator and differentiator transfer function have
their pole and zero on the origin respectively, which makes the corresponding
transfer function a constant gain system.
61
4.4 Generalized Plant for H2/H Control Design

In order to do a robust control design, the SOF plant is augmented with frequency weighting
functions. The
weighting functions are to minimize the error and control in the low frequency
region and the
weighting function is to improve the performance. The Generalised plant after
augmenting the weighting functions is shown in figure 4.4. Let
be the sates of the closed
loop plant and r is the plant input and u is the control input.
r
G(s)
u
y
K
Figure 4.4 Generalized Plant
The generalized plant is of the form:
= [
[
0 0]
0 0]
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
(4.26)
(4.27)
(4.28)
(4.29)
[0
[
[0
0]
0]
]
(4.30)
= [
[
0 0]
0 0]
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
[0
[
[0
62
0]
0]
]
(4.31)
The generalised feedback plant after feedback has a H2 performance index and all its poles are
at the left hand side of =/2 in the complex plane. If there exists a SOF gain matrix K and P
such that
+
+
+
+
0
<
0
0
(
+
)
>0
)<
(4.32)
(4.33)
(4.34)
(4.35)
The above formulation is derived by combining the LMI formulation for pole placement and the
LMI formulation for
performance. Using the above formulation, for a given performance
index we can solve an optimization problem for K and X with an objective to minimize while
constraining the solution to satisfy the above inequalities.
4.5 Modified ILMI Algorithm

The ILMI algorithm given in [22] is modified for the non-ideal implementation of the PID
controllers as is required in Kestrel Autopilot. The modifications done on the ILMI
algorithm are listed below:
1. The dynamics introduced by the non-ideal implementation of PID controllers are
incorporated and absorbed in the SOF formulation.
2. Constraints are put in terms of gain and phase margin on the closed loop system which
are the best indicator of system stability in the classical sense. Constraints are also put on
the damping of the closed loop poles. If the constraints are not met, then the optimal
performance index is increased and the result is computed based on the new performance
index.
63
3. The ILMI algorithm keeps on minimizing the trace(X) when no negative solution for is
obtained. The negative solution for is not obtained due to two factors. Here the
significance of
will be clear.
The solution obtained for K, laces the poles in the left half plane such that is a
negative or zero solution but the positive definite term
which was added
makes the solution more conservative.
If in the first iteration, for best
performance index, the lower order feedback
structure cannot achieve stabilizing control.
In both the above cases, the solution is to increase the optimal performance index.
4.5.1 The steps of modified ILMI Algorithm

The modified ILMI algorithm used to design the controller in this thesis is given below.
1. Find out the SOF representation of the system as in Eqs. 4.18, 4.19.
2. Augment the SOF output to obtain the generalized plant . Define
phase margin constraints) and any damping constraints
3. Compute the optimal guaranteed
performance index,
MATLAB. This serves as the starting point.
on the control design.

, using
> 0, obtain the initial X from the riccati equation below.
where
>0
The Q is taken as Identity matrix.

Initialize j=1
(gain and
function of
and also initialize the incremental step in as d.
4. Initialize
5. For
6. Using X from previous step, solve for P,
(4.36)
=0
to minimize
amd satisfy the LMIs
below,
+
(
=
=
+
+
>0
<
0
0
(4.37)
(4.38)
(4.39)
7. If
j=j+1
< 0 then put
Goto step 5
(4.40)
)<
64
8. Else if j=1 or if n>0 and n<10

Solve for
step.
i.
and P , to minimize trace(P). The value of

+
(
+
+
>0
)<
is obtained from the previous
<
0
0
(4.41)
(4.42)
(4.43)
(4.44)
If P has a feasible solution then

Put X=P , n=n+1 , j=j+1
ii.
Goto step 6
Else
Put
Goto step 6
9. Else if j 1 and
j=j+1, Goto step 6
10. Else if j 1 and
> 0 Put
<0
Form the closed loop system with feedback gain

Find
=
+
using normhinf function in Matlab.
Find the Gain Margin (GM) and Phase Margin (PM) and the damping (Z) of the closed
loop system.
i.
ii.
If
Else
< 1 and
=
>
and
>
and
>
then Goto step 11.
65
j=j+1, Goto step 5
11. Final Gain

12. Find
13. END
4.6 Sampling based ILMI Controller Design

Designing a robust controller in the presence of structured uncertainty is computationally
intractable or it is an NP-hard problem. Even when the uncertainty is defined in probabilistic
framework, the exact computation of the probabilistic density function is computationally
intractable. In order to get rid of these computationally intractable problems, the design of the
robust controller is done in the probabilistic sense. This guarantees robust satisfaction of a
certain characteristic or performance level of the system, if the controller works well for most
(but not all) of the systems.
In the aircraft application, the uncertainty is mainly due to two reasons:
i.
The model of the vehicle is obtained from XFLR5 and AVL which have their limitations
in predicting the performance of the vehicle. There is no wind tunnel data on the vehicle
which can be used to test the accuracy of the software used.
ii.
The controller is finally designed for a certain trim condition. But during flight it is not
possible to fly the vehicle in or nearby the trim condition. When the vehicle is flying at a
different trim condition, then the model is different from that used to design the
controller.
In order to overcome these difficulties, we introduce parametric uncertainty in the model and
then design a controller which satisfies the performance index in a probabilistic sense. The
stability derivatives in the mathematical model are perturbed by adding a percentage of
uncertainty on each of them. The plant is constructed by choosing a perturbed plant and the
controller is designed such that it stabilizes most of the plants within the perturbed region.
Monte Carlo Approach
The parametric uncertainties in the stability derivatives of the model generate a plant parameter
space. The plant parameter space is the product space formed by varying each parameter by its
uncertainty. Using uniform sampling, we generate plant models, which we took as an overall
66
representative of entire plant parameter space. The number of samples generated using Monte
Carlo estimates, as
where 1
ln
(4.45)
is the confidence and is the accuracy parameter.
For =0.01 and =0.05, it is enough to generate 1060 plant models.
4.7 Monte Carlo based modified ILMI algorithm

For each controller, the norm is calculated for all the plants used and the controller which
gives the minimum value is chosen as the final controller. Once m number of plants are selected,
a modified ILMI approach is used to yield a robust controller for each of the plant.
4.8.1 Steps of the combined Monte Carlo and modified ILMI algorithm
1. Sample number of plants m from plant parameter space

where 1
1 2
ln
2
is the confidence and is the accuracy parameter
2. For each plant
Apply modified ILMI algorithm for a plant

i.
ii.
If a controller ( ) is feasible for
then store both
i=i+1, count=count+1
Else i=i+1
3. For each controller
Compute the closed loop system for each
4. Find the average

minimum value.
5. END
from the plant space P.
and find the
norm.
norm for each controller and find the controller which gives the
67
4.8 Conclusion
Iterative linear matrix inequality algorithm is combined with Monte Carlo approach to obtain
better results. The modified ILMI algorithm finds the optimal solution by simultaneously putting
constraints on
performance, norm, pole placement and gain and phase margin of the
closed loop system. The damping of the closed loop poles is also taken into account. These
constraints result in a controller which is robust. With respect to It also takes into account the
non-ideal implementation of the PID logic.
68
Chapter 5
Controller Design
5.1 Introduction
The dynamics of these kind vehicles is often lowly damped with a high natural frequency of
operation. This implies that the handling qualities of these vehicles must be improved for a lessskilled pilot to fly the vehicle. This vehicle is designed for surveillance applications. It has to be
flown by different pilots and also remain in the air for a longer time. These requirements will be
satisfied only when the handling qualities of the vehicle are improved. Feedback control is useful
in improving the characteristics of the aircraft. The guidance loop commands the attitude of the
aircraft which is followed by the feedback control loop. From takeoff to landing, the vehicle
operates at different operating points. A linear controller can either be designed at each of these
operating points or a single controller can be designed to give satisfactory performance
throughout the flight. The operating point in the middle of the flight velocity regime is selected
and a controller is designed for that operating point. In a classical design the above method is
followed and it is ensured that the controller works well for the other operating conditions with
stable but degraded performance.
Using a robust design in a probabilistic framework gives us the confidence that even with the
presence of certain uncertainties in modeling the vehicle and in the environment, the controller
designed will stabilize the vehicle and also gives better performance. The choice of the feedback
control structure is limited as the designed controller is implemented using the Kestrel Autopilot.
5.2 Longitudinal Control Design

The longitudinal motion is dominated by the phugoid and short period mode. The eigen values
and corresponding Eigenvectors of the longitudinal mode for a trim velocity of 12m/s is provided
in the table 5.1.
69
Chapter 5. Controller Design
70
Table 5.1 Eigen Vector analysis for longitudinal motion

Modes
States
Phugoid
u
w
q
Short period
-0.9851
0.0968 0.0122i
-0.0980 0.0167i
0.0206 0.0992i
-0.0489 0.0505i
-0.8541
-0.1417 0.4911i
-0.0385 0.0539i
It is clear from the table 5.1 that the pitch rate feedback (q) and velocity (w) will improve the
short period frequency. Likewise, the feedback of attitude () and forward speed (u) will enhance
the phugoid mode characteristics. However, large gain for and u can saturate the actuator
which is not desired. The phugoid and short period damping and frequencies compared with the
required values are given in the table below. The minimum required values are based on MIL-F8785C specifications.
Table 5.2 Longitudinal Control design requirements
Actual
Required
Phugoid damping
0.03
>0.3
Phugoid frequency
0.982 rad/sec
0.7-1.2 rad/sec
Short period damping
0.62
0.35-0.8
Short period frequency
7.72 rad/sec
2-20 rad/sec
From the table we can understand that the phugoid damping should be improved. The Kestrel
autopilot hardware allows programming of pitch rate feedback and an error in pitch angle to the
elevator. We perform a classical design for a pitch error and pitch rate feedback.
5.2.1 Classical Feedback Analysis

The Nominal longitudinal plant is shown in the figure 5.1.The open loop plant transfer function
(q/u) is given in Eq. 5.1.
71
(5.1)
+
-
PID
G(s)
PD
Figure 5.1 Longitudinal Nominal Plant
Pitch rate feedback
The classical root locus design is done to improve the phugoid damping to a value of 0.4
while the other parameters remaining constant. The root locus has to be changed in order to
improve the damping. The root locus must satisfy the magnitude and angle condition at a point if
it has to pass through it. These conditions are used to get a stabilizing controller for the plant.
Figure 5.2 Root locus for pitch rate feedback
72
Pitch Control
The vehicle is designed to undertake surveillance missions. During the mission it is often
required to maintain constant attitude. In an actual flight the vehicle is subjected to disturbances,
therefore maintaining attitude is cumbersome for the pilot. Pitch tracking control can reduce the
pilot effort by maintaining the pitch. One more advantage of the pitch feedback is the
improvement in phugoid damping.
The final closed loop system is
(5.2)
and its step response is
Figure 5.3 Step response of the closed loop system (classical design)
From the step response, it is understood that the rise time is less than 4 seconds and the
settling time is 20 seconds. The low rise time indicates that in tracking
, the aircraft responds
quickly but the high settling time makes the aircraft to achieve the required angle in around 20
seconds. The low rise time is due to the phugoid pole which has a damping 0.3. The high settling
time is due to the pole at -0.1961 which is closer to the origin than the phugoid pole. This
dominant pole has a damping of 1 which makes the system as over damped resulting in the
sluggish response. If the dominant pole is moved towards the left in complex s-plane, then the
73
phugoid pole dominates the response. The response shows an overshoot and decrease in settling
time. This indicates that the aircraft overshoots the required pitch angle and then settles quicker
than the previous case. If the dominant pole is moved towards the right, then it becomes the
dominant pole. The response shows a sluggish response increasing both rise time and settling
time. The phugoid mode does not appear in the response which results in high rise time.
5.2.2 Feedback design using Monte Carlo based modified ILMI algorithm
The plant space for the longitudinal plant is formed by perturbing the stability derivatives
and the control derivatives. The state matrix for the longitudinal case is
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
+ 0
0
(5.3)
The table 5.3 summarizes the uncertainty considered in the stability derivatives. The probability
density function is considered as uniform as mentioned before.
Table 5.3 Uncertainty considered for the stability derivatives
Stability
Derivatives
Uncertainty in Stability
percentage
Derivatives
Uncertainty in
percentage
40
20
40
20
40
40
20
40
20
20
20
The control derivatives are given a perturbation of 20% and the stability derivatives
with respect to w are given a perturbation of 20% . The stability derivatives with respect to u,
q are given a perturbation of 40% .
74
The operating point is 13m/s and so the optimal plant which is perturbed is the model obtained at
the operating point. The plant space is formed by adding the above specified uncertainties to the
optimal plant. The pitch and pitch rate feedback are done simultaneously.
Generalized Plant
The plant (longitudinal mode with actuator dynamics) in the equivalent SOF form is
augmented with the weighting functions to get a generalized plant. The control system
components in the closed loop system should minimize the weighted outputs
, , . The
, are
performance measures whereas gives the robust performance measure. The
generalized plant is shown in the figure 5.4
PID
- -
G(s)
+
PD
Figure 5.4 Longitudinal Generalized plant

The selected weights are
W =
W =
0.1
( + 0.21)
0.2
( + 0.21)
(5.4)
(5.5)
75
W =
( + 0.15)
( + 10)
(5.6)
The control effort should be minimized at the low frequency range where the vehicle
generally operates. The weighting function ( ) is a low pass filter which has high gain in low
frequency region and the gain starts decreasing for frequency greater than 0.21 rad/sec. The
higher gain in the low frequency region ensures that the control effort is less. As the gain
decreases, the required control effort increases but this occurs at higher frequency beyond our
operating range. The weight ( ) minimizes the error dynamics in the low frequency range.
The weight ( ) determines the
performance. This weighing function is complement to the
weighting function and is thus a high pass filter as given in Eq 5.6. The criterion for choosing
weights is given in [36].
and
are the minimum gain and phase margin to be satisfied by the closed loop plant.
=5
and
= 50
The algorithm can now be used to design the P, I, D gains for the pitch loop and pitch rate loop.
The gains to be put in the Virtual Cockpit window of Kestrel autopilot are given in the table 5.4.
Controller obtained using the Algorithm
.
Pitch rate loop (PD): 1.0611 + 0.0210 (

Pitch loop (PID):
1.5481 + 1.1673
( .
0.1797 (
(5.7)
.
(5.8)
The integrator and differentiator transfer functions are fixed and they are given in Eqs. 4.11 and
4.12 which are repeated here
( + )
( )=
(5.9)
The values of the constants
= 0.02 ,
( )= +
(5.10)
are fixed and their values are given below
= 50 ,
= 2.83,
= 2.913
76
Table 5.4 Longitudinal PID gains

Kp
Ki
Kd
Pitch rate loop
-1.0611
0.0210
Pitch loop
1.5481
1.1673
-0.1797
Eigenvalue and Eigen-vector analysis

The Eigenvalue-Eigenvector analysis gives us the information about the effect of
eigenvalues on each state. It is given in table 5.5. The individual modes are also indicated in the
table. The ,
are the states of the PID controller. The
is the state of the PD controller.
Table 5.5 Eigenvalue-Eigenvector of closed loop plant
Eigen values
-5.22 10.16 i
-6.0574
0.0785
0.2622
0.0080 0.021i
-0.9935
-0.6742
0.178 0.54i
0.8049
0.0530
-0.1252
-0.017 0.05i
-0.0088
0.0403
-0.0165 0.1492i
-0.0597
-0.0386
-0.00020.0002i
0.0005
-0.0664
0.0031 0.0017i
-0.0028
0.2063
-0.0169
0.6411
States
u
Modes
-0.0085 0.0537i
Short period
-3.1083
-0.3971 + 0.7498i
-0.1577
-2.913
0.9712
-0.9591
-0.1901 0.1004i
0.2788
0.0474 0.0348i
-0.0029
0.0102 0.0686i
0.0185
-0.0087 0.0078i
0.0152
0.0252 0.0183i
0.0426
0.3182
0.0037 0.0261i
-0.0067
-0.9269
0.0211 0.0076i
-0.011
0.1992
Eigen Vectors
Phugoid
The closed loop and open loop phugoid and short period characteristics are compared in the table
5.6.
77
Table 5.6 Open loop and Closed loop characteristics

Mode
Open loop
Closed loop
Phugoid damping
0.03
0.4
Phugoid frequency
0.982 rad/sec
0.848
Short period damping
0.62
0.5
Short period frequency
7.72 rad/sec
11.42 rad/sec
From the table we can observe that the phugoid damping in increased which gives a
better response. The short period damping decreased from 0.62 to 0.5 but is well within the limit
of the specifications. The short period frequency increased from 7.72 to 11.42 but is well within
the specified range. The step response for the closed loop system is given in figure 5.5.
Figure 5.5 Step response of the closed loop system (Robust analysis)
The step response indicates a low rise time but a large settling time. This is due to the
pole which is close to the origin. This dominant pole has a damping of 1 and this gives the
sluggish response leading to high settling time. The low rise time is due to the phugoid damping
of 0.4. If the dominant pole is moved to its left in the complex s-plane then the phugoid mode
becomes dominant and the system response becomes under damped. This results in overshoot
78
and reduced rise time and settling time. If the dominant pole is moved towards its right in the
complex s-plane, then it becomes more dominant and the response becomes more sluggish. This
results in sluggish response with high rise time and settling time.
The pitch angle and pitch rate feedback increased the damping of the phugoid mode and
thus improved the handling qualities of the vehicle. This closed loop system is driven by a
reference pitch angle (
). The gain margin and phase margin of the system obtained by
breaking at the input is shown in the figure 5.6.
Figure 5.6 Bode plot of the system obtained by breaking at the input
The Bode plot shows negative gain and phase margin. Negative gain margin tells us that the
return gain is less than 1 i.e. if there is any disturbance in the system then the system can tolerate
the disturbance without amplifying it. The magnitude of the disturbance that gets attenuated is
given by the gain of this system.
The controller obtained for the plant at 12m/s is tested for 8m/s and 18 m/s and the resultant
responses are shown in figures 5.7-5.10.
Figure 5.7 Step response of the closed loop system for plant model at 8m/s
Figure 5.8 Bode plot of the system obtained by breaking at the input (plant model at 8m/s)
Figure 5.9 Step response of the closed loop system for plant model at 18m/s
79
80
Figure 5.10 Bode plot of the system obtained by breaking at the input (plant model at 18m/s)
The figures show that the controller performs well in the higher flight velocities and
underperform at lower flight velocities. At 8m/s, the response is sluggish with high rise time
compared to the response at 12m/s. In the autonomous mode, this
is given by an outer loop
which can be altitude hold loop or velocity hold loop. The altitude hold control system is
described in the next section.
5.2.3 Altitude hold control system

The altitude hold control system helps the aircraft in holding a particular altitude [27].
The input to this system is given by a path planning algorithm implemented in the autopilot for
autonomous flying. In this algorithm, the aircraft is made to follow a pre-specified path given in
terms of waypoints. If the aircraft has to go from one way point to another at a constant height or
at a steady climb rate, then the aircraft has to maintain its altitude at each point of time given by
this algorithm. This is achieved by the altitude hold control system. The outer loop of this system
is to track the altitude. The altitude is fed back using a PID controller. The longitudinal nominal
plant (
) given in Fig 5.1 forms the inner loop of the system. The pitch rate and pitch angle
feedback helps to hold the required pitch angle (
) given by the outer loop which is an
altitude hold loop. Thus the
is tracked by the output and the aircraft attains the altitude as
required by the path planning algorithm
81
Figure 5.5 shows the altitude hold control system. If the altitude of the aircraft decreases
due to a sudden gust, then the aircraft has to come back to its original altitude. This requires a
positive pitch angle which is driven to the inner loop. This angle is tracked by the inner loop. The
becomes zero when the altitude
is achieved.
Instead of using altitude hold control as the outer loop, velocity control can be used. In
this system, the forward velocity is tracked instead of altitude. This system is generally used in
cases in which a particular trim velocity has to be maintained. If there is any change in the
forward velocity, then the control system tries to correct it.
PID
-
PID
G(s)
+
PD
Figure 5.11 Altitude Hold Control System

The figure shows the altitude hold control system with the inner loop having pitch rate
and pitch angle feedback. The
input is given from a path planning algorithm. The output h
tries to follow the reference input. The
input is given by the PID controller and the inner
loop tries to track this input as shown in the figure 5.5. The transfer function is computed
from the relation shown in Eq 5.11.
which can be solved as
( ( ) ( ))
(5.11)
82
(5.12)
The transfer functions of
,
can be computed from the plant model and
can be obtained. The
can be obtained from Eq. 5.13
(5.13)
The closed loop response for the altitude hold control system is shown in the figure 5.6. The
inner loop is the closed loop system from the previous section designed using robust synthesis.
Figure 5.12 Closed loop response of altitude hold control system

The step response indicates a low rise time but a large settling time. This is due to the
pole which is close to the origin. This dominant pole has a damping of 1 and this gives the
sluggish response leading to high settling time. The low rise time is due to the phugoid damping
of 0.4. The aircraft flying autonomously with a path planning algorithm will track the reference
altitude with a sluggish response as shown in the figure 5.6.
83
5.3 Lateral Control Design

The Lateral motion comprises of the dutch roll mode, the spiral mode and the roll subsidence
mode. The Kestrel autopilot allows feedback of roll rate and yaw rate to the aileron and rudder
respectively. Roll angle feedback to aileron is also possible for attitude tracking. The table 5.6
shows the actual plant characteristics and the minimum required characteristics based on MIL-F8785C specifications.
Table 5.7 Lateral Control design requirements
Actual
Required
Dutch Roll damping
0.19-0.36
0.0282
Dutch Roll frequency
1.2 4 rad/sec
1.65 rad/sec
Roll subsidence
< -6.8
-10.4
Spiral
<0
0.0836
The Dutch roll damping has to be increased a lot in order to meet the requirements. The spiral
mode is unstable and it must be made stable. The nominal lateral plant model is shown in the
figure 5.7.
PD
sin
+
-
PID
G(s)
PD
Figure 5.13 Nominal Lateral Plant
84
Both classical and robust controller design should be performed on the lateral plant similar to the
longitudinal plant.
5.4 Open loop and Closed loop simulation

Matlab simulation is done to test the controller performance. Simulation is done to compare the
open loop and closed loop response for a commanded elevator. The open loop simulation is
without any feedback. Pilot command is the only input to the elevator. The open loop response to
a step elevator input is shown in the figure 5.6.
Figure 5.14 Open loop response for a commanded elevator (step input)
From the response we can observe that the damping is very low which is causing the large
settling time. The low damping of the response is due to the poor damping of the phugoid mode
(0.03) as given in the table 5.2. The pitch rate goes to zero whereas the forward and vertical
velocity and pitch angle does not go to zero. This is true because a step input is applied to the
elevator which changes the elevator position. The elevator remains in its new position which
gives new values of pitch angle and forward and vertical velocities. The closed loop response is
given in the figure 5.7.
85
Figure 5.15 Closed loop response for a commanded elevator (step input)
The closed loop response shows the improvement in the settling time. This is due to the increase
in the phugoid damping to 0.4. The short period damping decreased from 0.62 to 0.5 but is well
within the limit of the specifications. The short period frequency increased from 7.72 to 11.42
but is well within the specified range. The open and closed loop characteristics are compared in
table 5.6 which explains the improvement in the response. The pitch and pitch rate is in rad/sec
while the forward and vertical velocity is in m/sec. It is observed that the forward velocity
changes in greater magnitude than the vertical velocity which is expected. The pitch rate goes to
zero at a faster rate compared to the open loop. This signifies that the vehicles response to the
wind gusts will be quicker which helps the plane to become stable within less time.
If a unit step input is applied to a closed loop system, the response tells us the tracking nature of
the system, i.e. how well the output tracks the input. It indicates the performance of the feedback
configuration. In our application the PD, PID controllers constitute the feedback. Therefore, a
step input to the closed loop system indicates the role of the designed controllers in improving
the performance of the plant. In order to study this, a step input is applied to the closed loop
system at the input (
). The response is shown in the figure 5.8.
86
Figure 5.16 Step Response of the closed loop system

The input (
) is driven with a step input. The output () is shown following the input with a
nonzero settling time. The output is taking a while to settle to its steady state value (
) which
is clear from the figure. The responses of the forward velocity, vertical velocity and the pitch rate
are also observed. The pitch rate is settling to zero and the forward and vertical velocities are
settling to a new value which is due to change in the pitch angle. The performance of the closed
loop system is good which implies that the controllers designed using the combined Monte Carlo
and modified ILMI algorithm made the open loop plant stable and also improved the
performance.
5.5 Conclusion
The combined Monte Carlo and modified ILMI algorithm developed in the previous chapter is
used to design the pitch rate and pitch angle feedback controllers for the vehicles longitudinal
plant. The closed loop system characteristics are compared with the open loop characteristics.
The short period damping and frequency worsened from the open loop plant but well within the
limits of the specifications mentioned. The improvement in the phugoid damping reduced the
settling time of the responses. The open loop and closed loop responses are compared for a step
elevator input which clearly indicates the improvement in the overall system. The tracking nature
of the closed loop system is studied by driving the input with a step input and studying the
response of the system. The controller designed using the algorithm definitely improved the
performance of the system.
Chapter 6
Conclusions and Future Work
The design and flight control of miniature air vehicle is addressed in this thesis. The vehicle Fpv Raptor is chosen instead of constructing a new vehicle. This vehicle is selected as it has a
stable operation in radio controlled mode. It has good glide properties and hence it will land
gently in case of power/battery failure. It is readily available at low cost since it is manufactured
in large numbers and sold to hobby flyers. The vehicle is modeled using vortex lattice simulation
based softwares. The softwares are limited in their prediction of the properties of the wing and
wing-body combination. The wind tunnel data is not available which can be used to check the
accuracy of the model. The longitudinal model indicates a short period frequency of 7.72 rad/sec
with damping of 0.62 and phugoid damping of 0.982rad/sec with poor damping of 0.0359. The
lateral model indicates a dutch roll mode of frequency 1.61 rad/sec with damping of 0.0125,
stable roll subsidence mode and an unstable spiral mode. The characteristics show a poor
phugoid and dutch roll damping far lower than that specified in the military specifications. The
handling qualities of the vehicle must be improved by artificial stabilization.
The uncertainties in the model and the wind gust disturbances during flight insist on a
robust control design. The classical robust design is either over conservative or computationally
intractable. Therefore, the robust design is done in probabilistic framework in order to overcome
both the above problems. The statistical learning theory which is based on the probabilistic
framework suffers from the limitation that it works for most of the plants but not all. The
uncertainties discussed above are represented as parametric uncertainties in the stability
derivatives. The controller designed stabilizes the plant in the presence of these parametric
uncertainties. Monte Carlo simulation is combined with modified ILMI algorithm to design the
controller which satisfies the constraints on H2 and H performance, and also on gain and phase
margins.
87
Chapter 6. Conclusions and Future Work
88
The pitch rate feedback PD controller and pitch angle feedback PID controller is designed for
an optimal plant model at 12m/s after introducing the parametric uncertainties. The closed loop
system has improved phugoid damping of 0.4. The short period damping reduced to 0.5 which is
within the range of military specifications. The short period frequency increased to 11 rad/sec
but is within the specifications. A step input is applied at the input of the closed loop system and
is found that the input tracking performance is improved. The controller is checked for its
performance for different plant models in the flight regime and encouraging results are obtained.
The response of the altitude hold control system showed the improvement in performance due to
controller.
Future Work
Due to the limitation of time, controller for the lateral plant is not designed. In the
extension of the above work, the SOF plant model for the lateral model should be constructed
and a controller should be designed using the steps followed for the design of the longitudinal
plant controller. The performance of these controllers on nonlinear plant models can be verified
before the actual flight. The gains are entered in the kestrel autopilot before flying the vehicle.
The attitude tracking can be employed in order to verify the performance of the vehicle. The
recorded flight data can be compared with the simulation data and the accuracy of the design can
be verified. Pilot feedback is also useful in determining the improvement in the handling
qualities of the vehicle. The kestrel autopilot is not open source which makes it difficult to
change its path planning algorithm. If a different autopilot is used, then path planning and
obstacle avoidance algorithms can be implemented and verified in-flight.
References
1. http://www.defence-update.com
2. http://www.globalsecurity.org
3. MIL-F-8785C Flying qualities for piloted airplanes November 5, 1980.
4. AVL software http://web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/avl/
5. XFLR5 http://www.xflr5.com/xflr5.htm
6. Bernard Etkin, Lloyd Duff Reid , Dynamics of Flight- Stability and Control, Wiley India
Pvt. Ltd.
7. Hassan Noura Francois Bateman Control of an Unamanned Aerial Vehicle Proceeding of
the 7th International Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications (ISMA10),
Sharjah, UAE, April 20-22, 2010.
8. Prof. Dr. Szabolcsi, Rbert Uav Controller Synthesis using LQ-based Design Methods
International Conference of Scientific Paper AFASES 2011 Brasov, 26-28 May 2011.
9. Yusong Jiao, Juan Du, Xinmin Wang, and Rong Xie, H-infinity State Feedback Control
for UAV Maneuver Trajectory Tracking International Conference on Intelligent Control
and Information Processing August 13-15, 2010 - Dalian, China.
10. Li Meng, Liu Li, S.M. Veres Empirical Aerodynamic Modeling for Robust Control
Design of An Oceanographic Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle, International Conference on
Electronics and Information Engineering (ICEIE 2010).
11. Chenggong Huang Qiongling Shao, Pengfei Jin, Zhen Zhu, Bihui Zhang, Pitch Attitude
Controller Design and Simulation for a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle 2009
International Conference on Intelligent Human-Machine Systems and Cybernetics.
12. Dr. M. Seetharama Bhat Modern Control for Aerospace Vehicles Department of
Aerospace Engineering Indian Institute of Science Bangalore 560012, INDIA.
13. Carsten Scherer and Siep Weiland DISC Course on Linear Matrix Inequalities in Control 2004/2005 http:/www.cs.ele.tue.nl/sweiland,lmi.html, November 24, 2004.
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14. Mahmoud Chilali and Pascal Guidance H-infinity Design with Pole Placement
Constraints: An LMI Approach IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol.41, NO.3
March 1996
15. Feng Zheng, Qing-Guo Wang, Tong Heng Lee, On the design of multivariable PID
controllers via LMI Approach, Automatica 38 (2002) 517-526
16. Pascal Gahinet, Arkadi Nemirovski, Alan J.Laub, Mahmoud Chilali, LMI control Toolbox
For use with Matlab, The Mathworks users guide version 1.
17. Yong-Yan Cao, James Lam and You-Xiam Sun, Static Output Feedback Stabilization :
An ILMI Approach, Automatica, Vol. 34, No. 12, pp. 1641-1645, 1998.
18. M.Vidyasagar, Statistical Learning Theory and Randomized Algorithms for Control,
IEEE Control Systems, December 1998.
19. M.Vidyasagar Randomized algorithms for Robust Controller Synthesis using Statistical
Learning Theory, Automatica 37(2001) 1515-1528.
20. B.R Barmish, C.M Lagoa The Uniform Distribution: A Rigorous Justification for its use
in Robustness Analysis, Proceedings of the 13th conference on Decision and Control
Kobe, Japan December 1996.
21. Daniel P.Raymer, Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
22. Neha Satak, Design, Development and Flight Control of Sapthami A Fixed Wing Micro
Air vehicle M.Sc Thesis Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore December 2008.
23. UIUC Propeller Database http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/props/propDB.html
24. XFLR5 http://www.xflr5.com/xflr5.htm.
25. UIUC Airfoil Database http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/ads/coord_database.html
26. Airfoil Investigation Database http://www.worldofkrauss.com/foils/search
27. John H. Blakelock, Automatic Control of Aircraft and Missiles, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
28. M.P Miller An Accurate Method of Measuring the Moments of Inertia of Airplanes,
Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Washington October,1930.
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29. M.W Green, Measurement of Moment of Inertia of Full Scale Airplanes, Langley
Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Washington September, 1927.
30. Flavio Luiz de Silva Bussamra, Carlos Miguel Montestruque Vilchez, Julio Cesar Santos
Experimental Determination of Unmanned Aircraft Inertial Properties, ITA Instituto
Tecnolgico de Aeronutica, Diviso de Engenharia Aeronutica Praa Marechal
Eduardo Gomes, 50 - CEP 12228-900 So Jos dos Campos SP Brasil.
31. http://www.pololu.com
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Design and Flight Control of Miniature Air Vehicle

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Design and Flight Control of Miniature Aerial Vehicle

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Nomenclature and Abbreviations

4. Iterative Linear Matrix Inequality with Statistical Learning Theory

Nomenclature and Abbreviations

- Wing aspect ratio

- Variation of pitching moment with angle of attack

- Variation of X force with pitch rate

Nomenclature and Abbreviations

- Variation of X force with forward velocity

- Variation of Y force with yaw rate

- Error in pitch angle

- Moment of inertia around body fixed X, Y and Z axis

- Derivative gain for pitch rate feedback

- Proportional gain for pitch rate feedback

- Lift force of airplane

Nomenclature and Abbreviations

- Athena Vortex Lattice software

- Damping of phugoid, dutch roll od short period modes

4.2 Closed loop system with PID-PD feedback.57

1.2 Literature Survey

Video and Infrared

1.2.2 Design Process of vehicle

1.2.3 Mathematical Modeling

1.2.4 Robust Control Techniques

1.2.5 Linear Matrix Inequality

is a vector of real numbers which are decision variables of the

A bilinear matrix inequality is of the form

] are vectors of real numbers which are decision

1.2.6 Statistical Learning Theory and Randomized Algorithms

1.2.7 Path Planning and Following Algorithms:

Rapidly-Exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm

Figure 1.1 Description of RRT algorithm

Reactive obstacle avoidance

Figure 1.2 Reactive Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm

Figure 1.3 Construction of waypoint path in Reactive Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm

1.3 Scope of the Thesis

1.3.2 Organization of the Thesis

MAV Design Process

Chapter 2. MAV Design Process

Stability and Control Analysis

Review Design Requirements

Figure 2.1 Flow chart for design and development of MAV

Chapter 2. MAV Design Process

2.2 MAV design

2.2.1 Design Requirements

Chapter 2. MAV Design Process

Launch and Recovery

Hand Launch and Skid Recovery

2.2.2 Technology Availability

Chapter 2. MAV Design Process

1700g (weight of model)

1500g (weight of model)

1380g (weight of model)

Chapter 2. MAV Design Process

is the thrust in newtons, is the air density.

are the 3D lift and drag coefficients of the vehicle.

Chapter 2. MAV Design Process

Weight No. of cells Capacity (mAh) Discharge rating

Zippy Flightmax 8000 3S1P 30C

Turnigy nano tech 8400mAH

Chapter 2. MAV Design Process

2.2.3 Initial Sizing of the vehicle