Aircraft terrain following flights based on fuzzy logic

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a novel approach in terrain following (TF) flight using fuzzy logic. The fuzzy controller as presented in this work decides where and how the aircraft needs to change its altitude. The fast decision‐making nature of this method promises real‐time applications even for tough terrains in terms of shape and peculiarities. The method could always assist to design trajectories in an off‐line manner.Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the aforementioned goal, the method effectively incorporates the dynamics of the aircraft. Basically, the mathematical method employs special relationships among existing slope of the terrain and its derivative together with aircraft flying speed and height above the ground to construct suitable fuzzy rules. The fuzzification method is based on Sugeno and three rule‐sets are used for fuzzy structure. These rules are implemented using Fuzzy Logic Toolbox in MATLAB.Findings – Different case studies conducted for flights in XZ‐pl...

[1]  Ping Lu,et al.  Optimal aircraft terrain-following analysis and trajectory generation , 1995 .

[2]  Mario Innocenti,et al.  Waypoint-based Fuzzy Guidance for Unmanned Aircraft - A New Approach , 2002 .

[3]  D. K. Pratihar,et al.  Fuzzy-genetic algorithms and mobile robot navigation among static obstacles , 1999, Proceedings of the 1999 Congress on Evolutionary Computation-CEC99 (Cat. No. 99TH8406).

[4]  Duncan A. Campbell,et al.  Fuzzy Multi-Objective Mission Flight Planning in Unmanned Aerial Systems , 2007, 2007 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Multi-Criteria Decision-Making.

[5]  Seiya Ueno,et al.  Three-Dimensional Collision Avoidance Control Law for Aircraft Using Risk Function and Fuzzy Logic , 2004 .

[6]  James K. Kuchar.  Markov Model of Terrain for Evaluation of Ground Proximity Warning System Thresholds , 2001 .

[7]  M. Rahim,et al.  Fuzzy terrain following flight: a new approach , 2006, 2006 1st International Symposium on Systems and Control in Aerospace and Astronautics.

[8]  S.M. Malaek,et al.  Novel minimum time trajectory planning in terrain following flights , 2003, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[9]  V. Kanakakis,et al.  Fuzzy-Logic Based Navigation of Underwater Vehicles , 2004, J. Intell. Robotic Syst..

[10]  S.M. Malaek,et al.  Intelligent Operation Using Terrain Following Flight in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles , 2007, 2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference.

[11]  Mario Innocenti,et al.  A Fuzzy Approach to the Guidance of Unmanned Air Vehicles Tracking Moving Targets , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.

[12]  V. H. L. Cheng,et al.  OPTIMAL TRAJECTORY SYNTHESIS FOR TERRAIN-FOLLOWING FLIGHT , 1991 .

[13]  Amirreza Kosari,et al.  Novel minimum time trajectory planning in terrain following flights , 2007 .

[14]  S. M. Malaek,et al.  Dynamic based cost functions for TF/TA flights , 2012, 2005 IEEE Aerospace Conference.

[15]  Mario Innocenti,et al.  Guidance of Unmanned Air Vehicles Based on Fuzzy Sets and Fixed Waypoints , 2004 .

[16]  S. J. Asseo.  Terrain following/terrain avoidance path optimization using the method of steepest descent , 1988, Proceedings of the IEEE 1988 National Aerospace and Electronics Conference.