PROJECT EMERGENTIA

Desarrollo de una Aeronave Convertible No-Tripulada para Despliegue Rápido y Eficiente en Situaciones de Emergencia

DevElopment of an unManned convERtible aircraft for rapid and efficient deployment in emerGENcy situaTIons

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WP7. DEVELOPMENT OF AUTONOMOUS STRATEGIES FOR CONTROL AND GUIDANCE

Responsables: SER y GVR
Participantes: SER, GVR, MOL, MVV.

Objectives:

The fundamental objective of this work package is the development of a Control and Guidance System (SCG) for the safe and autonomous operation of the aircraft in SAR missions.
After designing the required architecture, a simulation model of the control system will be developed to collect the behavior of this unconventional aircraft during critical phases such as the transition between airplane mode and rotary wing mode, low speed flight.
On this basis both low-level control systems to stabilize the aircraft will be developed, as well as the guidance systems to fulfill the mission entrusted with a minimum energy consumption

Subtasks

T7.1. Definition of the architecture of the SCG: A design of the general architecture of the SCG, ie the interrelations between the different control loops, the operating frequencies of each of them and the required performance of the different embedded sensors will be made.
T7.2. Design of low level control systems: Given the peculiarity of this aircraft, it is not feasible to use control strategies similar to those used in conventional airplanes or helicopters, so this task will have an important research burden to open up new paths in terms of control of convertible aircraft.
T7.3. Design of guidance systems for the execution of missions in an autonomous and efficient way: The system to be developed must have the following elements: Optimal Trajectory Module (MGTO), Trajectory Tracking Module (MST), Load Transport Module (MTC). In order to test the guidance system in an aircraft simulation model, it is necessary to have the low level control system, so that the simulation tests associated with the guidance can be understood as tests of the complete flight control system

Feasibility and Contingency Plan:

Researcher SER, have participated in the design of a flight control system for an unmanned aircraft with adaptive and predictive capabilities. Professor GVR brings extensive experience in the design of controllers for quadricopters and other rotary wing aircraft, as well as having recently started a line of research related to tiltable rotor aircraft.
The team already has previous experience in the field of aerodynamic tunnel testing.
The separation in guiding and control loops helps to mitigate risks by being able to advance both in parallel. It is noteworthy that the team has researchers who in recent years have focused their research lines on the development of control and guidance systems, applying techniques as diverse as predictive control, adaptive backstepping, feedback linearization, proportional guidance, control based on separation of time scales, energy modeling or optimum control. Thus, researchers SER and GVR have several publications on the design of low level control systems.
In addition, the two researchers focused their doctoral theses on the design of non-linear control and guidance systems for unmanned vehicles in different configurations (helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and quadricopters respectively), applying a variety of control strategies.
On the other hand, in the last years, the GVR researcher has focused his work on the development of control strategies for tilt-rotor RPAS in trajectory tracking and load transport tasks.

Available Materials:

In addition to the aforementioned wind tunnel (which will validate the modes of transition between modes and loss of entry), the US Department of Aerospace Engineering has three unmanned aircraft (two of them prototypes designed by the work team) equipped with all the electronics and instrumentation necessary to carry out in-flight tests. In addition, Professor GVR has in Brazil two tilt-rotor RPASs that can also be used as additional test banks to evaluate the control strategies in the transition phases

Publications:

Magazines

"Suspended Load Path Tracking Control Strategy Using a Tilt-Rotor ," SANTOS, M. A. ; REGO, B. S. ; RAFFO, G. V. ; FERRAMOSCA, A. . UAV. JOURNAL OF ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION, v. 2017, p. 1-22, 2017.
"Suspended Load Path Tracking Control Strategy using a Tilt-rotor," SANTOS, M. A. ; REGO, B. S. ; RAFFO, G V ; FERRAMOSCA, A.UAV. JOURNAL OF ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION, 2017
"Suspended Load Path Tracking Control Using a Tilt-rotor UAV Based on Zonotopic State Estimation," REGO, B. S. ; RAFFO, G.V. JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE-ENGINEERING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS, 2018.

PhD (on going)

"Robust Control Strategies for Convertible Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ," Daniel Neri Cardoso, Doctorado em Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior Advisor: Guilherme Vianna Raffo, Co-Advisor Sergio Esteban.

Master Thesis

"Control Strategies of a Tilt-rotor UAV for Load Transportation," Marcelino Mendes de Almeida Neto. 2014. Dissertação (Mestrado em Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica) - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. Advisor: Guilherme Vianna Raffo."
"Projeto da Arquitetura de Software Embarcado de um Veículo Aéreo Não Tripulado," Fernando Silvano Gonçalves. 2014. Dissertação (Mestrado em Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Automação e Sistema) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. Advisor: Guilherme Vianna Raffo.
"Modeling and Control of a Tiltrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Path Tracking," Rodrigo Donadel. . 2015. Dissertação (Mestrado em Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Automação e Sistema) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. Advisor: Guilherme Vianna Raffo.
Predictive Control Strategies for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Cargo Transportation Tasks," Richard Alfonso Andrade Alfaro. 2016. Dissertação (Mestrado em Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Automação e Sistema) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. Advisor: Guilherme Vianna Raffo.
"Path Tracking Control of a Suspended Load using a Tilt-Rotor UAV," Brenner Santana Rêgo. 2016. Dissertação (Mestrado em Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica) - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. Advisor: Guilherme Vianna Raffo.
"Adaptive Control Strategies for Improved Forward Flight of a Tilt-Rotor UAV," Daniel Neri Cardoso. 2016. Dissertação (Mestrado em Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica) - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. Advisor: Guilherme Vianna Raffo.

Thesis

"Desarrollo de estrategias de control avanzadas para el control de vehículos aéreos no tripulado," Luis García-Baquero, Thesis Defense, Grado en Ingeniería Aeroespacial, Universidad de Sevilla, 2018, Advisor: Sergio Esteban

Congress

"Small scale UAV with birotor configuration," GONCALVES, F.S. ; BODANESE, J. P. ; DONADEL, R. ; RAFFO, G. V. ; NORMEY-RICO, J. E. ; BECKER, L. B. In: 2013 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), 2013, Atlanta. 2013 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS). p. 761-768
"Modeling and Control of a Tiltrotor UAV for Path Tracking," DONADEL, R. ; RAFFO, G. V. ; BECKER, L. B. In: 19th World Congress - IFAC'14, 2014, Cape Town. 19th World Congress - IFAC'14, 2014. p. 3839-3844.
"Robust State Estimation for UAVs. A comparison study among a deterministic and a stochastic approach.," ALMEIDA, M. M. ; SCHREIBER, L. ; RAFFO, G. V. In: XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática 2014, 2014, Belo Horizonte. XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática 2014, 2014.
"Full Control of a TiltRotor UAV for Load Transportation.," ALMEIDA, M. M. ; DONADEL, R. ; RAFFO, G. V. ; BECKER, L. B. In: XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática 2014, 2014, Belo Horizonte. XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática 2014, 2014.
"Path Tracking Control of a Small Scale Tiltrotor Unmmaned Aerial Vehicle,"DONADEL, R. ; ALMEIDA, M. M. ; RAFFO, G. V. ; BECKER, L. B. In: XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática 2014, 2014, Belo Horizonte. XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática 2014, 2014.
"Nonlinear Balance Control of an Inverted Pendulum on a Tilt-rotor UAV," ALMEIDA, M. M. ; RAFFO, G V . In: ACNAAV'15 IFAC Workshop on Advanced Control and Navigation for Autonomous Aerospace Vehicles, 2015, Seville. Proc. of 2015 IFAC Workshop on Advanced Control and Navigation for Autonomous Aerospace Vehicles, 2015. p. 168-173.
ALMEIDA, M. M. ; RAFFO, G V . Nonlinear Control of a TiltRotor UAV for Load Transportation. In: 11th IFAC Symposium on Robot Control, 2015, Salvador. Proc. of the 11th IFAC Symposium on Robot Control, 2015. p. 234-239.
"Model Predictive Control for Path Tracking of a Tilt-Rotor UAV," ANDRADE, R. ; RAFFO, G.V. ; NORMEY-RICO, J. E. . In: Simpósio Brasileiro de Automação Inteligente SBAI-DINCON, 2015, Natal. XII Simpósio Brasileiro de Automação Inteligente SBAI-DINCON, 2015. p. 1507-1512.
"Model predictive control of a tilt-rotor UAV for load transportation," ANDRADE, RICHARD ; RAFFO, Guilherme V. ; NORMEY-RICO, JULIO E. In: 2016 European Control Conference (ECC), 2016, Aalborg. 2016 European Control Conference (ECC). p. 2165-2170.
"Suspended load path tracking control based on zonotopic state estimation using a tilt-rotor UAV," REGO, BRENNER S. ; RAFFO, Guilherme V. In: 2016 IEEE 19th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), 2016, Rio de Janeiro. 2016 IEEE 19th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC). p. 1445-1451.
"ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF A TILT-ROTOR UAV IN LOAD TRANSPORTATION TASKS - A LMI BASED APPROACH," SANTOS, M. A. ; RAFFO, G.V. In: XXI Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA2016, 2016, Vitória. XXI Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA2016, 2016. p. 1-6.
"PATH TRACKING CONTROL BASED ON GUARANTEED STATE ESTIMATION FOR A TILT-ROTOR UAV," REGO, B. S. ; RAFFO, G.V. In: XXI Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA2016, 2016, Vitória. XXI Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA2016, 2016. p. 1241-1246.
"MODELING AND CONTROL OF A TILT-ROTOR UAV WITH IMPROVED FORWARD FLIGHT," Neri, D. ; RAFFO, G.V. ; ESTEBAN, S. In: XXI Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA2016, 2016, Vitória. XXI Congresso Brasileiro de Automática - CBA2016, 2016. p. 2473-2478.
"Managing CPS Complexity: Design Method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," GONCALVES, F. S. ; RAFFO, G.V. ; BECKER, L. B. . In: The 1st IFAC Conference on CyberPhysical & Human-Systems, 2016, Florianópolis. Proc. of the 1st IFAC Conference on CyberPhysical & Human-Systems, 2016. p. 136-141.
"Suspended Load Path Tracking by a Tilt-rotor UAV," REGO, B. S. ; RAFFO, G.V. In: The 1st IFAC Conference on CyberPhysical & Human-Systems, 2016, Florianópolis. Proc. of the 1st IFAC Conference on CyberPhysical & Human-Systems, 2016. p. 229-234.
"Path tracking Model Predictive Control of a Tilt-rotor UAV carrying a suspended load," SANTOS, MARCELO A. ; RAFFO, Guilherme V. In: 2016 IEEE 19th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), 2016, Rio de Janeiro. 2016 IEEE 19th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC). p. 1458-1463.
"A robust adaptive mixing control for improved forward flight of a tilt-rotor UAV," CARDOSO, DANIEL NERI ; RAFFO, Guilherme V. ; ESTEBAN, SERGIO In: 2016 IEEE 19th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), 2016, Rio de Janeiro. 2016 IEEE 19th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC). p. 1432-1437.
"DESENVOLVIMENTO DE UM AMBIENTE DE SIMULAÇÃO DE VANTS TILT-ROTOR PARA TESTES DE ESTRATÉGIAS DE CONTROLE," LARA, A. V. ; REGO, B. S. ; RAFFO, G.V. ; ARIAS, J. In: XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Automação Inteligente (SBAI), 2017, Porto Alegre. XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Automação Inteligente (SBAI), 2017. p. 1-7
"A MULTI-CORE SOFTWARE DESIGN OF A MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL FOR A TILT-ROTOR UAV," MIRANDA, G. M. T. ; MACHADO, L. M. F. ; ARIAS, J. ; RAFFO, G.V. In: XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Automação Inteligente (SBAI), 2017, Porto Alegre. XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Automação Inteligente (SBAI), 2017. p. 1-7.
"A Discrete Robust Adaptive Control of a Tilt-rotor UAV for an Enlarged Flight Envelope," SANTOS, M. A. ; Neri, D. ; REGO, B. S. ; RAFFO, G. ; ESTEBAN, S. In: 56th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2017, Melbourne. Proc. of the 56th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2017. p. 1-6.
"Tube-Based MPC with Nonlinear Control for Load Transportation Using a UAV," SANTOS, M. A.; FERRAMOSCA, A.; RAFFO, G. V. In: Joint 9th IFAC Symposium on Robust Control Design and 2nd IFAC Workshop on Linear Parameter Varying System, 2018, Florianópolis.
9th IFAC Symposium on Robust Control Design. , 2018. p.649 - 655
“Singular Perturbation Control for the Longitudinal and Lateral-Directional Flight Dynamics of a UAV”, L. García-Vaquero, S. Esteban, G. V. Raffo, In: 2018 IFAC Aerospace Controls Workshop - Networked & Autonomous Air & Space Systems, 2018, Santa Fé., NAAS 2018. , 2018. v.51. issues 12, p.124 – 129, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2018.07.099
"Path Tracking Control with State Estimation based on Constrained Zonotopes for Aerial Load Transportation," REGO, B. S.; RAIMONDO, D. M.; RAFFO, G. V. In: 57th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2018, Miami Beach. 57th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. , 2018. p.1 - 6