Flexible modelling and altitude control for powered parafoil system based on active disturbance rejection control

ABSTRACT

For the accurate altitude control of the powered parafoil system, a novel modelling method and control methodology are designed in this paper. Firstly, based on computational fluid dynamics, the proposed model can accurately simulate the actual flight state of the powered parafoil system. Then, the double closed-loop controller based on active disturbance rejection control is designed. With this methodology, the precise altitude control can be realised. By analysing the theory of active disturbance rejection control, the proposed control method will be stable and valid. At last, after the detailed verification in the hardware-in-the-loop simulations, the flight experiment is carried out. After the simulation with the proposed model, the adjusted controller parameters can be applied directly in the actual experiment. The results show that the proposed method can provide effective guidance to the flight experiment. It also proves the validity and effectiveness of the proposed modelling and control method.

KEYWORDS:

• Powered parafoil system
• altitude control
• computational fluid dynamics
• active disturbance rejection control
• flight experiment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under [grant numbers 61273138 and 61573197], in part by National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China [grant number 2015BAK06B04], and in part by the key Technologies Research and Development Program of Tianjin [grant number 14JC2DJC39300].

Notes on contributors

Hao Sun

Hao Sun received the Ph.D. degree in control science and engineering from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 2019. He is currently a research assistant with Nankai University, Tianjin, China. His research interests include control theory and application, and active disturbance rejection control of powered parafoil.

Qinglin Sun

Qinglin Sun received the Ph.D. degree in controlling science and engineering from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 2003. He is currently a Professor with the Intelligence Predictive Adaptive Control Laboratory, and the College of Computer and Control Engineering, Nankai University. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers. His research interests include the self-adaptive control, modelling and controlling of flexible spacecraft, complex systems and embedded control system and their applications.

Wannan Wu

Wannan Wu received the Ph.D. degree in controlling science and engineering from the Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 2019. Her research interests include the flexible modelling of UAVs.

Shuzhen Luo

Shuzhen Luo received the Ph.D. degree in controlling science and engineering from the Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 2018. Her research interests include the active disturbance rejection control.

Jin Tao

Jin Tao received the Ph.D. degree in control science and engineering from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 2017. His research interests include acoustic manipulation, intelligent control, evolutionary optimisation, dynamic modelling and their applications.