Autonomous Flight Control of a Low-Altitude, Long-Range Solar Powered UAV

This paper presents the development of control and guidance algorithms for KAU-SPUAV(Korea Aerospace University–Solar Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) which is researched and developed by Korea Aerospace University. In dynamic modeling, six-degree-of-freedom rigid body equations are used. The aerodynamic coefficients are obtained from the vortex lattice method. The propeller coefficients are computed from the Blade Element Momentum Theory(BEMT). The control law configuration enables the aircraft to fly efficiently in the thermal conditions. The wind estimation, the crabbing maneuver for the strong wind condition, and the autonomous landing algorithm are also developed. The performance of the autonomous flight control algorithms is proved in various missions including the flight along 147km of the coastline of Jeju Island and the long-endurance flight test with 56 hours and 33 minutes which set Korean new record.