Fundamentals of Small Unmanned Aircraft Flight

Because of advances in sensor, processing, and battery technologies over the past decade, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) have become both smaller and more affordable. In particular, readily available low-weight, low-power, low-cost sensors based on microelectromechan-ical systems technology have facilitated the development of UAS autopilots for military and civil use, academic research, and recreation. The purpose of this article is to explore the fundamentals of state estimation and flight control for small fixed-wing UASs. The article covers the common sensors and sensor configurations used on small UASs for state estimation and, in general terms, the algorithms used to control UAS flight