Deceleration transition control law design for short take-off vertical landing unmanned aerial vehicle with thrust vector

In order to achieve the deceleration transition of short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with thrust vector, a comprehensive control law design method for deceleration transition was studied. First, the deceleration transition thrust vectoring control schemes were evaluated based on the analysis of STOVL UAV deceleration transition performance. Then implicit dynamic inversion method was used to design guidance laws which provide guidance instructions for STOVL UAV deceleration transition mission. Finally, an improved eigen-structure assignment method was applied for the inner loop control laws design, enabling to track guidance instructions and maintain stable attitudes; the attitude nozzles were joined for the attitude control with the drop of dynamic pressure. Results from six degree of freedom (DOF) flight simulation platform show that, when the deceleration transition speed is lower than the minimum level flight speed, STOVL UAV still keeps favorable trajectory tracking and stable attitude. Deceleration transition integrated control laws fully adopt direct collocation methods, making it conducive to rapid assessment for control configuration of vehicle program. © 2015, BUAA Press. All right reserved.