Flight Control System of the Hovereye (Trademark) VTOL UAV

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Flight Control System of the Hovereye (Trademark) VTOL UAV

P. Binetti / D. Trouchet / L. Pollini / M. Innocenti / T. Hamel

This overview paper covers the flight control system of Bertin Technologies Hovereye(registered name) 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 night camera payload.. This system stabilizes the vehicle, provides operators with easy manual flight commands, and automatically performs mission segments such as automatic landing, in the face of strong gusting wind. The highlights of this paper are: the breadth of its scope, covering a full UAV flight control system, with a special emphasis on control laws; the proposed rapid prototyping solutions have been proven in flight; some experimental results are given; insight is provided into the stabilisation of the unconventional ducted-fan VTOL configuration, which is open-loop unstable and features highly nonlinear dynamics; issues on semi-automatic and autonomous flight are dealt with, including visual-based servo control;. Short films of test flights will complete the presentation.