Model-based design and real live on-runway testing of a ground controller for a novel diamond-shaped Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV)

At the Institute of Flight System Dynamics of the Technische Universität München (TUM), a digital auto flight system for a fixed-wing Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) featuring a novel diamond-shaped configuration is designed, implemented and tested up to its first flight. The capabilities of the UAV comprise a fully automated flight, including ground control for centerline tracking and runway alignment during automatic take-off and landing. This paper presents the approach concerning the development of the model-based designed ground controller for the diamond-shaped UAV. The respective landing gear model required for control law synthesis has been implemented by the Institute of System Dynamics and Control of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) utilizing available configuration and test-bench data. The focus within this paper is set on the dedicated ground controller design based on the associated landing gear model, culminating in promising real live taxi-test results by exciting significantly the ground controller by lateral offset commands.