Active Flow Vector Flight Control Using Only SJAs for a Fixed-Wing UAV

A novel flight control method for a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is provided, which uses only synthetic jet actuators (SJAs) to achieve thrust vector control of the fixed-wing UAV. Firstly, the fluid model of the engine jet (or primary jet) and the SJAs are built, and the relation between the deflection angle of the primary jet and the amplitude of vibrating membrane of the SJAs is obtained. Secondly, based on the relation, a SJAs-based thrust vector control pitching motion model of the UAV is built. Thirdly, considering parameter uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics and unknown external disturbance of the system, an adaptive back-stepping sliding mode control (ABSMC) law is proposed, and pitching motion of the UAV is achieved by using only the SJAs-based thrust vector control. Finally, some simulations are conducted to analyze and verify the effectiveness of the flight control method. The results show that the thrust vector produced by the SJAs can enable the pitch control of the UAV and the ABSMC performs well in the presence of parameter uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics and unknown external disturbance of the system.