Back-stepping control strategy for stabilization of a Tilt-rotor UAV

Abstract

In today's world, the study and applications of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) capable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have increased vastly. A wide variety of UAVs are currently being employed in both civilian and military sectors. In this paper, our focus will be on the Tilt-rotor UAV. The Tilt-rotor has a rotor on each side of its airframe, tilted to provide both lift and forward thrust to the rotor-craft. We develop a model that aims to enable the Tilt-rotor UAV to hover in one specific position. Because of the under-actuated property of the Tilt-rotor, we design a back-stepping based proportional-derivative (PD) controller. The controller was able to achieve the desired objective of stabilization.