Flight Test Results of Autonomous Fixed-Wing Transition to and from Stationary Hover
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Abstract
Linear systems can be used to adequately model and control an aircraft in either ideal steady-level flight or in ideal
hovering flight. However, constructing a single unified system capable of adequately modeling or controlling an
airplane in steady-level flight and in hovering flight, as well as during the highly nonlinear transitions between the
two, requires the use of more complex systems, such as scheduled-linear, nonlinear, or stable adaptive systems. This
paper discusses the use of dynamic inversion with real-time neural network adaptation as a means to provide a single
adaptive controller capable of controlling a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft system in all three flight phases: steadylevel
flight, hovering flight, and the transitions between them. Having a single controller that can achieve and
transition between steady-level and hovering flight allows utilization of the entire low-speed flight envelope, even
beyond stall conditions. This method is applied to the GTEdge, an eight-foot wingspan, fixed-wing unmanned
aircraft system that has been fully instrumented for autonomous flight. This paper presents data from actual flighttest
experiments in which the airplane transitions from high-speed, steady-level flight into a hovering condition and
then back again.
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2008-03
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