Control of the longitudinal flight dynamics of an UAV using adaptive backstepping

An adaptive backstepping approach is used to control the longitudinal dynamics of an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV). The nonlinear controller designed makes the system follow references in the aerodynamic velocity and flight path angle, using the elevator deflections and the thrust as actuators. Moreover, the (global) solution is valid for all the flight envelope, since it is based on a general nonlinear model. The adaptation scheme proposed allowed us to design an explicit controller with a minimal knowledge of the aircraft aerodynamics. Simulations are included for a realistic UAV model that includes actuator saturation