A Novel Rolling Takeoff Flight Control for Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

A new rolling takeoff flight control method for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) which launched obliquely and powered by propeller is proposed. The fixed-wing UAV has the characteristics of low launch velocity, insufficient control ability of aileron, and strong reaction torque caused by propeller, which leads to insufficient control ability in rolling channel during initial takeoff phase. Different from the traditional flight control system, the reaction torque is utilized as a part of control torque to make the UAV roll 360deg with the direction of reaction torque in the initial phase. With the control ability of aileron increasing and the reaction torque decreasing, the aileron is used to restrict the influence of reaction torque and stabilize the roll angle of UAV at 0deg. The effectiveness of the proposed flight control strategy is illustrated by numerical simulation results.