On-line on-board wind estimation system for small UAVs

Abstract

This paper describes the status, achieved results and future research plans related to a student's project of an on-line on-board wind estimation system. The system is planned to augment functionality and improve performance of existing small UAV flight control system units, developed within students activities at the Department of Control Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague. Simulated data are prepared based on realistic flight mechanics models. Simple algorithms are adopted from literature and tailored for our case and their sensitivity to measurement errors is carefully analyzed. Finally, performance of the algorithms is demonstrated in realistic simulation scenarios. Related hardware components are also introduced and discussed in brief and the future plans are elaborated.