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arXiv · 1510.01088

Autonomous take-off and landing of a tethered aircraft: a simulation study

Eric Nguyen Van·Lorenzo Fagiano·Stephan Schnez
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Abstract

The problem of autonomous launch and landing of a tethered rigid aircraft for airborne wind energy generation is addressed. The system operates with ground-based power conversion and pumping cycles, where the tether is repeatedly reeled in and out of a winch installed on the ground and linked to an electric motor/generator. In order to accelerate the aircraft to take-off speed, the ground station is augmented with a linear motion system composed by a slide translating on rails and controlled by a second motor. An onboard propeller is used to sustain the forward velocity during the ascend of the aircraft. During landing, a slight tension on the line is kept, while the onboard control surfaces are used to align the aircraft with the rails and to land again on them. A model-based, decentralized control approach is proposed, capable to carry out a full cycle of launch, low-tension flight, and landing again on the rails. The derived controller is tested via numerical simulations with a realistic dynamical model of the system, in presence of different wind speeds and turbulence, and its performance in terms of landing accuracy is assessed. This study is part of a project aimed to experimentally verify the launch and landing approach on a small-scale prototype.

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Eric Nguyen Van, Lorenzo Fagiano, Stephan Schnez. 2015-10-05. Autonomous take-off and landing of a tethered aircraft: a simulation study. https://doi.org/10.1109/acc.2016.7525562

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