A Novel Method to Trajectory Tracking for Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Backstepping and Fuzzy Controller

Nowadays, operational usage of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in various missions is on the increase considering their capabilities. Provided that there is coordination between the UAV, navigation and control system, operational capability of the UAVs increases. This paper regards the control and the guidance as two separate entities in trajectory tracking problem. To do so, backstepping controller design for inner loop to track the commands is generated by the outer loop. The outer loop is designed based upon fuzzy logic. The proposed system uses standard mamdani fuzzy controllers that provide speed, heading, and flight path angle references for the autopilots. Nonlinear six-degree-of-freedom equations of motion are used to model the vehicle dynamics. Simulations were carried out to verify the performance of the system. The results indicate the ability of trajectory tracking system to track the desired set of waypoint

Keywords:

backstepping controller , fuzzy guidance , trajectory tracking , unmmand aerial vehicles