Adaptive Optimal Flight Control for a Fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle using Incremental Value Iteration

This paper deals with the design of an adaptive optimal controller for a fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) using an incremental value iteration algorithm. The incremental model is firstly introduced to linearize a nonlinear system. The recursive least squares(RLS) identification algorithm is then used to identify the incremental model. Based on incremental control, the incremental value iteration algorithm is developed for a nonlinear optimal control problem. Moreover, this algorithm is applied to longitudinal attitude tracking of a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle. Simulation results show that the designed adaptive flight controller is robust to variations in initial value of the angle of attack.