Commande de vol non linéaire d'un drone à voilure fixe par la méthode du backstepping

Abstract

This thesis describes the design of a non-linear controller for a UAV using the backstepping method. It is a fixed-wing UAV, the NexSTAR ARF from Hobbico®. The aim is to find the expressions of the aileron, the elevator, and the rudder deflection in order to command the flight path angle, the heading angle and the sideslip angle. Controlling the flight path angle allows a steady, climb or descent flight, controlling the heading cap allows to choose the heading and annul the sideslip angle allows an efficient flight. A good technical control has to ensure the stability of the system and provide optimal performances. Backstepping interlaces the choice of a Lyapunov function with the design of feedback control. This control technique works with the true non-linear model without any approximation. The procedure is to transform intermediate state variables into virtual inputs which will control other state variables. Advantages of this technique are its recursivity, its minimum control effort and its cascaded structure that allows dividing a high order system into several simpler lower order systems. To design this non-linear controller, a non-linear model of the UAV was used. Equations of motion are very accurate, aerodynamic coefficients result from interpolations between several essential variables in flight. The controller has been implemented in Matlab/Simulink and FlightGear.

Date	20 May 2015
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Vahé Nerguizian (Supervisor) & Maarouf Saad (Co-supervisor)