ROBUST CONTROL OF AN EVTOL THROUGH TRANSITION WITH A GAIN SCHEDULING LQR CONTROLLER

Abstract

The advancements in electric motor propulsion and battery technologies have made the implementation of electric power in aerial transportation increasingly feasible. As such, the interest and development of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft has become a greater portion of the market. This increase drives a need for research into control of the eVTOLs to ensure safe flight through the transition from hover to forward flight. This paper proposes a control strategy using the transition dynamics in a gain scheduling LQR attitude controller to robustly control the vehicle at any point throughout transition. The proposed control strategy is tested through implementation in nonlinear 3DOF and 6DOF simulations. The robustness of the controller is tested through simulating transition and virtual mission profiles.