Design of time delayed control systems in UAV using model based predictive algorithm

There is large time delay in ‘man-in-the loop’ unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) system, especially for remote control flight by satellite communication. Time delay has great impacts on UAV and payload control, which can lead to the system unstable. Considering the character that the UAV was operated through man-machine interface, reference model based state predictive algorithm was proposed to solve the transport delay problem. The estimated state variant was displayed in the visual interface to compensate time delay. An aircraft's pitch angle control loop was designed employing this method. The simulation results indicate the compensation algorithm is effective to decrease the effect of time delay.