Attitude Stabilization with Real-time Experiments of a Tail-sitter Aircraft in Horizontal Flight

This paper focusses on the attitude stabilization of a mini tail-sitter aircraft, considering aerodynamic effects. The main characteristic of this vehicle is that it operates in either the hover mode for launch and recovery, or the horizontal mode during cruise. The dynamic model is obtained using the Euler–Lagrange formulation, and aerodynamic effects are obtained by studying the propeller effects. A nonlinear saturated Proportional-Integral-Derivative (SPID) control with compensation of aerodynamic moments is proposed in order to achieve the asymptotic stabilization of the vehicle in horizontal mode. In addition, a homemade inertial measurement unit (HIMU) is built for operating the complete operational range of the vehicle (including vertical and horizontal modes). Finally, simulation results are presented for validating the control law, and practical results are obtained in real-time during the flight.