TRAJECTORY TRACKING OF AN UNMANNED AIR VEHICLE

Abstract

The goal of the work is to contribute to continuous improvements those are being made in the area trajectory tracking. This thesis describes the KESTREL autopilot system and its features and Virtual Cockpit which is a Windows-based ground control software system for the Kestrel autopilot system. The Virtual Cockpit provides an easy to use interface to the Kestrel Autopilot System. Virtual Cockpit gives the capability to place the autopilot into a number of pre-configured modes, for example: Go home, Loiter at current location, Take off, and Land. With just a click of the button the autopilot executes the desired action, leaving the ground operator to be able to observe other important tasks such as video monitoring. Multi-agent operation is easy and intuitive. This thesis includes the information about the AeroSim aeronautical simulation block set which provides a complete set of tools for the rapid development of nonlinear 6-degreeof- freedom aircraft dynamic models. Details of the interface of MATLAB and Flight gear flight simulator for the visual display of the aircraft and its motion. Trajectory tracking is done by the use of PID controller. The different types of paths are tested to show the tracking of the aircraft, like straight path, circular path and spiral path and the different graphs reveals the tracking has been achieved.