Lyapunov Vector Fields for Autonomous Unmanned Aircraft Flight Control

General techniques for constructing vector fields for unmanned aircraft guidance are provided that incorporate Lyapunov stability properties to produce simple, globally stable vector fields in three dimensions. Use of these fields to produce circular loiter pattern attractors is illustrated, along with a simple switching algorithm to enable following of arbitrary way point sequences. Alternatively, attractor shape variations are developed by warping the circular loiter, preserving global stability guarantees, and accurate path tracking. An example of this technique is provided that produces a racetrack loiter pattern, and three different variations in the warping technique are compared. Finally, tracking of the vector field is considered, using Lyapunov techniques to show global stability of heading and path position for several types of tracking control laws that are compatible with low cost unmanned aircraft avionics.

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