Aggressive Maneuvering of a Thrust Vectored Flying Wing: A Receding Horizon Approach

John Hauser and Ali Jadbabie
Submitted, 2000 Conference on Decision and Control

This paper deals with the control of a thrust vectored Flying wing known as the ducted fan, developed at California Institute of Technolnogy. The experiment was developed to serve as a testbed for nonlinear control design. In an earlier paper, the authors reported simulation results based on a simplified (no aerodynamics involved) planar model of the ducted fan around hover position. In this paper we report on the modeling and simulation of the ducted fan in forward flight, when aerodynamic forces and moments can no longer be ignored. It is shown that using quasi Linear Parameter Varying (Quasi LPV) techniques, one can obtain a Control Lyapunov Function (CLF) for the equilibrium point corresponding to ying level at a constant velocity. By utilizing a receding horizon strategy in conjunction with the above mentioned CLF, a receding horizon scheme is developed and applied to the model. furthermore, using a more simplified version of the model, some aggressive trajectories are generated. By using the trajectories of the simplified model as a reference in the receding horizon scheme, these trajectories are morphed into the trajectories of the full model. Simulation results depict the capabilities of the ducted fan as well as the control methodology in performing aggressive maneuvers.

Conference Paper (postscript)