A Path-following Guidance Method for Airborne Wind Energy Systems with Large Domain of Attraction

We address the problem of generating electrical power through Airborne Wind Energy Systems, using a kite connected to a generator on the ground. We propose a controller to steer the kite to follow a pre-defined eight-shaped path based on a nonlinear guidance logic. The controller has an easy implementable explicit form, has asymptotic stability guarantees and a large domain of attraction. We report simulations of a complete production cycle, including a production phase and a recovery phase. Also, we provide a Lyapunov stability analysis.