Accurate control law for low-cost UAV

Abstract : Present article proposes a method to design a control law and the associated observer to stabilize a UAV. The design is only based on the UAV geometry, mass and propulsion system characteristics which do not require any expensive facilities or software to be obtained. The control inputs are the longitudinal airspeed, the roll angle and the slope angle to ease the guidance control whether manual or automatic. The resulting control only relies on the information provided by a 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) Iner-tial measurement unit (IMU) that makes it suitable for implementation on very basic autopilot board (cf. Paparazzi Chimera, Pixhawk XRacer, ArduPilot APM...). The propeller acts indeed as an airspeed probe which makes additional sensor unnecessary. This low-cost implementation makes it of particular interest for large UAVs fleet.