Autonomous Orbit Coordination for Two Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

This work considers autonomous coordination between two Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in orbit about a target, with the purpose of geo-locating the target. Wind signican tly aects the relative phase angle between the vehicles. Guidance algorithms are investigated to maintain an approximately constant phase angle in wind. A planar-kinematic aircraft model is proposed in which the eects of attitude dynamics and nonlinearities are considered. 1. NOMENCLATURE Course, [rad] Va Airspeed, [m/s] Vg Inertial speed, [m/s] Vo Nominal inertial speed, [m/s] Vw Windspeed, [m/s] p Clock angle, or bearing from orbit center, [rad] Heading, [rad] w Wind direction (from), [rad] ~ V Velocity, [m/s] xN North position [m] yE East position [m] R Radius of orbit, [m] Subscripts w Wind e Earth xed North-East-Down frame (NED) b Body xed frame 1; 2 Vehicle 1; 2