Autonomous airship path following control: Theory and experiments

A novel path following control method related to the planar and spatial motions for an underactuated autonomous airship is presented. First, the trajectory linearisation control (TLC) theory is briefly described and the dynamic model of the airship is introduced. Then, based on the model, a path following strategy that integrates the guidance-based path following principle and the TLC theory is deduced. The designed control system possesses a cascaded structure composed of a guidance loop, an attitude kinematics loop and a dynamics control loop. Stability analysis shows that the controlled closed-loop system is asymptotically stable. Finally, experimental flight results for the airship following typical paths are illustrated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.