Nonlinear modeling and control of coupled dynamics of a fixed wing micro air vehicle

In this paper, we consider the nonlinear modeling and control design for coupled longitudinal and lateral dynamics of a fixed wing micro air vehicle (MAV) of span 150 mm. It is shown that propeller wake and counter torque has significant effects on the dynamics of the MAV. Severe coupling between longitudinal and lateral dynamics drives the requirement for control system design for unconventional higher dimensional state space model. The controller takes the structure of static output feedback possessing robustness against parametric uncertainties. The proposed controller is simulated using six degree of freedom nonlinear model of the MAV under Dryden wind disturbances.