Path Following for the PVTOL: A Set Stabilization Approach

This article proposes a path following controller that regulates the center of mass of the planar vertical take-off and landing aircraft (PVTOL) to the unit circle and makes the aircraft traverse the circle in a desired direction. A static feedback controller is designed using the ideas of transverse feedback linearization, finite time stabilization and virtual constraints. No time parameterization is given to the desired motion on the unit circle. Instead, our approach relies on the nested stabilization of two sets on which the dynamics of the PVTOL exhibit desirable behavior.