Frequency Domain System Identification for a Small, Low-Cost, Fixed-Wing UAV

Abstract

This paper describes a practical and systematic procedure for modeling and identifying the ight dynamics of small, low-cost, xed-wing uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs). The procedure is applied to the Ultra Stick 25e ight test vehicle of the University of Minnesota UAV ight control research group. The procedure hinges on a general model structure for xed-wing UAV ight dynamics derived using rst principles analysis. Wind tunnel tests and simplifying assumptions are applied to populate the model structure with an approximation of the Ultra Stick 25e ight dynamics. This baseline model is used to design informative ight experiments for the subsequent frequency domain system identi cation. The nal identi ed model is validated against separately acquired time domain ight data.