Three Dimensional Waypoint Navigation for Fixed-wing Micro Aerial Vehicles using Integrated Guidance and Control Framework

Harikumar Kandath¹    Jinraj V Pushpangathan²    M Seetharama Bhat³   

¹ Robotics Research Center, IIIT Hyderabad, India    ² Department of Aerospace Engineering Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore    ³ Department of Aerospace Engineering IISc Bengaluru, India   

This paper presents an integrated guidance and control (IGC) framework for the three dimensional (3D) waypoint navigation of a fixed-wing micro aerial vehicle (MAV). The proposed IGC framework incorporates the miss distance into the state space model, and yields a single stage solution for 3D waypoint following. A H∞ static output feedback controller is designed for the linearized IGC state space model, stabilizing the open loop unstable spiral mode. The closed-loop Integrated Guidance and Control (IGC) framework’s performance and stability are validated by high-fidelity nonlinear simulations for three-dimensional waypoint tracking.