Design of the heading system of micro air vehicle

A new heading system (including heading measurement and heading control) framework is presented for Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) from the viewpoint of practical applications. Then, an implementation scheme is designed in which three most popular heading measurement methods, i.e., magnetic heading, strapdown heading and GPS heading, are integrated into a mini system. The strong and weak points of these methods are analyzed, and a practical heading approach based on data fusion is provided. A heading control scheme for MAVs is designed based on heading measurements, which is applied to the flight control system of a mini fixed wing aircraft. Some desired results are obtained in autonomous flight tests.