This article presents a model of rotor-fixed wing hybrid aircraft, which can operate as a helicopter as well as transition to fixed-wing flight. The control mission includes: hover, vertical take-off and landing, forward flight, from hover to forward flight, and vice versa. A backstepping-based control method for the aircraft is designed to keep the flying height invariant during mode transitions from hover to forward flight and vice versa. The other control missions mentioned are not considered in this article.
HauserJ.SastryS.MeyerG.Nonlinear control design for slightly nonminimum phase systems: application to V/STOL aircraft. Automatica, 1992, 28, 665–679.
2.
Olfati-SaberR.Global configuration stabilization for the VTOL aircraft with strong input coupling. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control47, 1949–1952.
3.
MartinP.DevasiaS.PadenB.A different look at output tracking: control of a VTOL aircraft. Automatica, 1996, 32(1), 101–107.
4.
Al-diddabiS.McClamrochN.Output tracking for nonminimum phase VTOL aircraft. In Proceedings of the 37th IEEE Conference on Decision and control, December 1998, Tampa, Florida, USA4573–4578.
5.
LinF.ZhangW.BrandtR. D.Robust hovering control of a PVTOL aircraft. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol., 1999, 7, 343–351.
6.
SetlurP.DawsonD.FangY.CosticB.Nonlinear tracking control of the VTOL aircraft. In Proceedings of the 40th IEEE Conference on Decision and control, December 2001, Orlando, Florida, USA4592–4597.
7.
HuangC.-S.YuanK.Output tracking of a nonlinear nonminimum phase PVTOL aircraft based on nonlinear state feedback. Int. J. Control, 2002, 75, 466–473.
8.
DoK. D.JiangZ. P.PanJ.On global tracking control of a VTOL aircraft without velocity measurements. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control, 2003, 48(12), 2212–2217.
9.
FliessM.LevineJ.MartinP.RouchonP.A Lie–Backlund approach to equivalence and flatness of nonlinear Systems. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control, 1999, 44(5), 922–937.
10.
Al-HiddabiS. A.McClamrochN. H.Tracking and manoeuvre regulation control for nonlinear nonminimum phase systems: application to flight control. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol., 2002, 10(6), 780–792.
11.
Al-HiddabiS. A.McClamrochN. H.A study of longitudinal flight manoeuvres for the CTOL aircraft model. In Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE, International Conference on Control applications, August 1999, Kohala Coast, Hawai'i, USA22–27.
12.
NieuwstadtM. J. V.MurrayR. M.Rapid hover-to-feedforward-flight transitions for a thrust-vectored aircraft. J. Guid. Control Dyn., 1998, 21(1), 93–100.
13.
EscarenoJ.SalazarS.LozanoR.Modelling and control of a convertible VTOL aircraft. In Proceedings of the 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and control, Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, December 13–15 2006, San Diego, California, USA.
14.
StoneR. H.Control architecture for a tail-sitter unmanned air vehicle. 2004In Proceedings of the 5th Asian Control ConferenceMelbourne, Australia736–744.
15.
StoneR.The T-wing tail-sitter unmanned air vehicle: from design concept to research flight vehicle. Proc. IMechE, Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering, 2004, 218(6), 417–433DOI: 10.1243/0954410042794920.
16.
StoneR.ClarkeG.The T-wing: a VTOL UAV for defense and civilian applications. 2001In Proceedings of the UAV Australia ConferenceMelbourne, Australia4–4.
17.
StoneR.ClarkG.Optimization of transition maneuvers for a tail-sitter unmanned air vehicle (UAV). 2001In Proceedings of the Australian International Aerospace CongressCanberra, Australia.
18.
KnoebelN. B.OsborneS. R.SnyderD. O.McLainT. W.BeardR. W.EldredgeA. M.Preliminary modeling, control, and trajectory design for miniature autonomous tailsitters. 2006In Proceedings of the AIAA Conference on Guidance, navigation, and controlKeystone, Colorado, USA, AIAA paper 2006-6713.
19.
TaylorD. J.OlM. V.CordT.Skytote advanced cargo delivery system. 2003In Proceedings of the AIAA/ICAS International Air and Space Symposium and Exposition: The Next 100 YearsDayton, Ohio, USA.
20.
Aviation Week & Space TechnologyAerospace SourceBook 2006, 2006, McGraw-Hill, New York, USA.
21.
AERL. Accomplishment report, May 2004.
22.
Office of the Secretary of Defense.Unmanned aerial vehicles roadmap 2002–2007, December, 2002.
23.
ProutyR. W.Helicopter performance, stability and control, 1986, PWS Engineering, Boston.
24.
FreemanR. A.KokotovicP. V.A new Lyapunov function for the backstepping design of ‘Softer’. robust nonlinear control laws. Technical report CCEC-92-0520, 1992.
