Optimal path and tracking control of an autonomous VTOL aircraft

This study presents a simple algorithm for motion-planning and design tools for tracking in a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The proposed motion-planning procedure is based on the solution of a linear algebraic equation. The resulting schemes are useful for flight control of an autonomous VTOL aircraft in case the objective is to drive the system from a given state to a prescribed target and when a reference path should be followed. In particular the proposed controller ensures the accomplishment of a required control task while in addition, a selected quadratic index of performance is minimized. The solution to the suboptimal control problem is simple since a functional which measures the controller performance, reduces to a quadratic form and hence, the extremum is associated with a minimum point of a function of several variables