Cooperative Control for Landing a Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on a Ground Vehicle

Abstract: High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) platforms are a type of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). With their relatively easy deployment and independence of a fixed orbit, HALE UAVs have the potential to replace satellites for certain tasks in the future. A challenge with this technology is that the current platforms are too heavy to fly for a long period of time. A suggested method for reducing the weight is to remove the landing gear to instead use alternative methods for take-off and landing. One such alternative method is to land the UAV on top of a cooperating ground vehicle. In this thesis, the cooperative controller and the experimental setup of such a landing have been investigated. The cooperation between the systems was analyzed and evaluated analytically, through simulations and with flight tests. Using a PID controller for the position alignment and a modified flare law for the descent, feasibility of the landing was verified by performing a landing of a Penguin BE fixed-wing UAV on top of a cooperating ground vehicle.