Guidance-based Path Following Control of the Powered Parafoil

Abstract

The powered parafoil is a new kind of flexible vehicle, which consists of the parafoil system and engine propeller system. Compared with common parafoil systems, the powered parafoil has better maneuverability. Aiming at eight degrees of freedom (DOF) nonlinear dynamic model, a path following control method for the vehicle is presented. The position error from the desired path is transformed to guidance laws of azimuth angle and inclination angle. In the process of control system design, internal coupling of the model and external gust disturbance are observed by extended state observer (ESO) of linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC) and eliminated in control law.  The simulation results verify the effectiveness and robustness of the method.