A valuable new resource being developed for today’s soldier are small ducted fan VTOL UAVs. Although beneficial in many ways, a major operational problem of ducted fan vehicles is precise control when flying in crosswinds and turbulent conditions in general. There are two significant, inherent issues associated with ducted fan control in crosswinds; 1) lateral momentum drag and 2) a duct stabil...

DOI : 10.12762/2014.AL08-07 Control and Estimation Algorithms for the Stabilization of VTOL UAVs from Mono-Camera Measurements This paper concerns the control of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based on exteroceptive measurements obtained from a mono-camera vision system. By assuming the existence of a locally planar structure in the field of view of the UAV...

This paper describes progress made on the T-Wing tail-sitter UAV programme currently being undertaken via a collaborative research agreement between Sonacom Pty Ltd and the University of Sydney. This vehicle is being developed in response to a perceived requirement for a more flexible surveillance and remote sensing platform than is currently available. Missions for such a platform include coas...

In this thesis the potential of visual servoing techniques for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV platforms is explored. An overview of UAV applications and state-of-theart quadrotors is provided, backed up by the necessary theoretical background. Visual servoing based solutions of the important flight tasks (such as vertical take-off and landing, obstacle avoidance and attitude estimatio...

This overview paper covers the flight control system of Bertin Technologies’ Hovereye ® mini vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV, including development, verification in simulation and flight test results. Hovereye ® is a demonstrator of a short range reconnaissance platform in support of army units engaged in urban combat, such as in peace-keeping missions, with an electro-optic day or nigh...

We present our ongoing work on the development of a new quadrotor aerial vehicle which has a tilt-wing mechanism. The vehicle is capable of take-off/landing in vertical flight mode (VTOL) and flying over long distances in horizontal flight mode. Full dynamic model of the vehicle is derived using Newton-Euler formulation. Linear and nonlinear controllers for the stabilization of attitude of the ...

A new design for a tail-sitting vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was proposed. A nonlinear mathematical model of the vehicle dynamics was constructed by combining simple estimation methods. The flight characteristics were revealed through a trim analysis and an optimized transitional flight path analysis by using the mathematical model. The trim analysis reveale...

The use of flight simulation tools to reduce the schedule, risk, and required amount of flight testing for complex aerospace systems is a well-recognized benefit of these approaches. However, some special challenges arise when one attempts to obtain these benefits for the development and operation of an Experimental Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system. These types of UAV systems are charact...