Quaternion-based Control of Fixed-Wing UAVs Using Logarithmic Mapping

Abstract

This paper presents a solution to the problem of flight control using a quaternion controller with a logarithmic mapping of the error quaternion. Specifically, the paper presents how to control fixed-wing UAVs using nonlinear control, and then compares a quaternion-based PD+ controller with a new quaternion-based controller exploiting the logarithmic map. The main finding is that the logarithmic mapping controller works well for flight control, and provides slightly better results than the PD+ control law.