Small Unmanned Aircraft - Theory and Practice

Small Unmanned Aircraft - Theory and Practice

RANDAL W. BEARD
TIMOTHY W. McLAIN

Designed for advanced undergraduate or graduate students in engineering or the sciences, this book offers a bridge to the aerodynamics and control of Autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAV) flight.

This book presents a unique and broad introduction to the necessary background, tools, and methods to design guidance, navigation, and control systems for unmanned air vehicles
The authors explore the essential underlying physics and sensors of UAV problems, including low-level autopilot for stability and higher-level autopilot functions of path planning. The textbook leads the student from rigid-body dynamics through aerodynamics, stability augmentation, and state estimation using onboard sensors, to maneuvering through obstacles. To facilitate understanding, the authors have replaced traditional homework assignments with a simulation project using the MATLAB/Simulink environment. Students begin by modeling rigid-body dynamics, then add aerodynamics and sensor models. They develop low-level autopilot code, extended Kalman filters for state estimation, path-following routines, and high-level path-planning algorithms. The final chapter of the book focuses on UAV guidance using machine vision.

Brief Contents
Preface
1 Introduction
2 Coordinate Frames
3 Kinematics and Dynamics
4 Forces and Moments
5 Linear Design Models
6 Autopilot Design Using Successive Loop Closure
7 Sensors for MAVs
8 State Estimation
9 Design Models for Guidance
10 Straight-line and Orbit Following
11 Path Manager
12 Path Planning
13 Vision-guided Navigation
APPENDIX A: Nomenclature and Notation
APPENDIX B: Quaternions
APPENDIX C: Animations in Simulink
APPENDIX D: Modeling in Simulink Using S-functions
APPENDIX E: Airframe Parameters
APPENDIX F: Trim and Linearization in Simulink
APPENDIX G: Essentials from Probability Theory
APPENDIX H: Sensor Parameters
Bibliography
Index


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